ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at a collection of baskets and textiles made by Philla Davis on her travels around the world. Davis was once summed up as a 'delightfully eccentric person' with a 'colossal personality' and a 'very charismatic character' - but 'probably not photogenic'. Her life and her extensive travels in the latter half of the twentieth century, pose a number of questions around tourism, material culture and collecting. The example of 'tourist' souvenirs is an example of a shifting category. The collection as a whole covers a wide geographical range, from Asia, Africa, Europe and America and is but an indication of what, it transpired, were her worldwide travels. In Britain and on the continent Philla frequently travelled by motorbike. Some of the complexity of issues of authenticity and documentation of artefacts can be illustrated through examples of ikat textiles in the Philla Davis collection.
