Explaining the inspiration behind my version of 'Batik kompeni'
Photo by Saul Chan Htoo Sang
at aNERDgallery in Singapore
Groupphoto of the artists, curator and organisers of 'The Cloth Remembers'
in front the work by of Mee Cha, of Moon Love Batik, who couldn't be there
at aNERDgallery in Singapore
Rangoli for Pongal in Little India, Singapore
A week home after bring abroad most of January. First leaving a snow-covered Netherlands for London, second for Singapore. I didn’t mind swapping the cold weather for the hot, and the weather was really mild in Singapore.
Arrived on Tuesday 13 January late afternoon in Singapore. On Wednesday me & Tony started building up the exhibition at aNERDgallery that opened on Thursday afternoon. When we arrived in the morning on Wednesday in Little India we saw sugar canes standing at the grocery stores corners and many people buying them. It was the start of Pongal;
Pongal is a Harvest Festival. Originated in Tamil Nadu, a Southern state of India. The festival is named after the ceremonial “Pongal”, which means “boiling over” or “overflow” in Tamil language and refers to the traditional dish prepared by boiling rice with milk and jaggery. Mattu Pongal is meant for celebration of cattle, and the cattle are bathed, their horns polished and painted in bright colors with garlands of flowers placed around their necks and processions on the day. The festival is traditionally an occasion for decorating with rice-powder based kolam artworks, offering prayers at home, visiting temples, getting together with family and friends, and exchanging gifts to renew social bonds of solidarity.
What a nice time to arrive here. I visited the decorated cows in between hanging the artworks. The next morning, on Thursday, our opening day, many shops had decorations in front including rangoli (little temporary carpets made from coloured sand and flowers), the pot that is 'overflowing' and sugarcanes against the walls.
Building up 'The Cloth Remembers' at aNERDgallery
More Rangoli decorations for Pongal in Little India, Singapore
Since me & Tony were in Laos in 2024 we have been thinking of bringing the cloths we saw there during the symposium and the people who make them together. Diving deeper in the meaning behind the Hmong Story Cloth and how they were made, functioning as living archives of memory, displacement and resilience, we recognized this in other storytelling cloths as well.
The exhibition ‘The Cloth Remembers’ has traditional story cloth next to re-imagined story cloth by HAFI from Singapore, Mee Cha from Laos, Saul Chan Htoo Sang from Myanmar and me.
Entrance to the exhibition 'The Cloth Remembers'
View of the exhibition 'The Cloth Remembers', open till 28 February 2026 at aNERDgallery
Left the work by HAFI, right side the work by Mee Cha of Moon Love Batik,
behind the Batik Kompeni, left on the wall on loan from Rudolf Smend
Left traditional Chin embroidery from YOYAMAY from Myanmar,
in the middle my re-made 'Batik Kompeni,
on the right traditional Hmong Batik by Mee Cha of Moon Love Batik
For my re-imagined story cloth I was inspired by Batik Kompeni. In the exhibition we got to add two of these batiks. An older one from around 1920-1930. We got it on loan from Galerie Rudolf Smend.
This hand-drawn batik kompeni in blue and red, showing marching soldiers and mounted horsemen alongside ships, elephants, tigers and flowers across the body of the cloth. The red head panel of the cloth is adorned with flowers and birds.
The second one, is a Batik Kompeni - Repro Batik Perang Lombok. Batik Kompeni refers to batik that depict war scenes. These batik designs were first made in Pekalongan, Java, at the end of the 19th century. Renowned batik ateliers made these designs based on the Aceh war, which was part of a broader series of violent conflicts to insure Dutch colonial rule over Indonesia. In the 1920s, batik workshops in Cirebon started remaking this design, adding modern warfare imagery such as planes and firearms, to reflect the ongoing resistance to colonial oppression. These war batiks were named Batik Perang Lombok by a Dutch researcher in the 1990s although they are locally known as Batik Kompeni, after Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC, Dutch East India Company).
For my own work I wanted to create a Batik Kompeni that depicts the actual history of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC, Dutch East India Company) which had an impact to this day. This work highlights the era of Jan Pieterszoon Coen (J.P. Coen), a naval officer and former Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, who ordered massacres and forced deportations that resulted in the displacement of the people of Banda in the 17th century. The scene is juxtaposed with the removal of his statue in Batavia during the Japanese occupation as well as the demonstration around his statue in Hoor, Netherlands in 2020.
At the centre of this batik is a Nutmeg tree, the reason for the Dutch to start this chapter of violence, drawn together with a nutmeg pigeon (Ducula spilorrhoa fiying away, bringing the nutmeg to freedom.
On Thursday 15 January late afternoon we opened the show, together with the rebranding launch of aNERD. So many came, which was a lovely surprise, wonderful to see everyone so soon again. For the re-branding a lovely video is made as well, watch below. It was so great to be here during this milestone. aNERD opened in October 2022, I was a month earlier in Singapore when Tony just got the keys. It was also the first time we met in person, meeting online in the pandemic. What Tony accomplished in 3 years time is really remarkable. aNERD is The place for textile nerds & creatives to gather, learn, do and share in Singapore. I am so happy to be one of those nerds!
The exhibition ‘The Cloth Remembers‘ at aNERDgallery was part of Singapore Art Week (SAW) and will run till 28 February 2026.
My travel to Singapore is made possible by the Mondriaan Fonds International Voucher. Thank you so much!
All dressed up for the opening of 'The Cloth Remembers' ,
posing in front of my work with HAFI.
Photo by Pearl
I am wearing kebaya by Kebaya Jeng Sri, belt by Rengganis, batik by Ibu Ramini
aNERD has a new sign outside too
On Saturday 17 January we had a paneltalk, Remembering the Cloth: Artists in Conversation. An afternoon in which the participating artists; HAFI, Saul Chan Htoo Sang, me and curator Tony Sugiarta to reflect on the exhibition ‘The Cloth Remembers’, discussing story cloth as living archives of memory, displacement and resilience. Intertwined with our own lived experiences, the conversation explores how textiles and contemporary storytelling reimagine identity, community and collective hope.
I realized my experience is pretty different, mostly because textile traditions are so far removed from daily culture in the Netherlands. We have hardly any traditional wear left and we aren’t connected to any handmade textile traditions since we do not have many left. There is an upcoming interest in handmade, repair & sustainability in clothing, but the connecting with tradition is often not made. Mainly I think because it soon gets intertwined with colonial history which many are not ready to deal with. It is something I think about too; what would be my own version of traditional Dutch wear if Batik was not my go to daily uniform. What would & could I wear?
Watch it back here:
Paneltalk Remembering the Cloth: Artists in Conversation at aNERDgallery
On Sunday 18 January I went to shop for art materials for the Paper Sarong workshop and ended up crafting at the National gallery. For the exhibition ‘Fear no power: Women imagining otherwise’ the Kolektif made a activity booklet which included creating a junk journal inspired by the exhibition. I was definitely not their target group, but was nevrtheless welcome to cut & paste between the teenagers.
The exhibition features some great women art collectives & shared next to work, some archival insights in their organization and activities. It was interesting to see that these women art collectives included textiles, traditional arts & crafts, next to politics in their exhibitions and gatherings. Something that is now more happening in the more general (read previous male dominated) Art scene and in museums. As this exhibitions shows. When visiting do take some time to read some of the letters on display, the struggle is real.
Collage by Imelda Cajipe Endaya (b. 1949, Philippines)
Collection of Amaryllis T. Torres
This collage belong to the series Conversations on the Spoliarium and Women's Work (2004)
Now on view at the exhibition ‘Fear no power: Women imagining otherwise’ at National Gallery Singapore
The letter with the best shade I read in a while: “Dr. Capistrano-Baker’s scholarship certainly has impeccable data. And I don’t expect her to express lament or point an accusing finger. But at the very least she could have opined an Asian bias in her analysis. Alas one can’t give what one doesn’t have. Meanwhile let’s dream on until our scholars can convince museums to gift their collections to communities where their art hoard originated, and until our institutions can build capability to preserve, exhibit, and educate with them.”
Written by Imelda Cajipe Endaya who was part of the KASIBULAN group
I cut and washi taped this into my booklet, surrounded by very young Singaporeans who all brought stickers and more things to craft with. The photos above were the inspiration. It was actually really nice to look at the exhibition in this way.
On Monday 19 January after a walk in the park and seeing a whole hornbill checking out nest locations, I went to see ‘Peacock Power’ at Peranakan Museum. Me & Tony went for the activity booklet, of course, doing all the things in the exhibition; making a tiny belt, 3D peacock, colour in a feather & counting how many peacocks on the batiks. A guide gave us all the correct answers before we even got started.
The exhibition is stunning and it shows a wide variety of objects decorated with peacocks, explaining how different Asian cultures use these birds as symbols. Great Indian and European block print, carpets, beaded and embroidered textiles. There are some lovely batiks, which are not of the museum collection and not in the small catalog. Again hidden behind the black mesh to make photography difficult, or to get a closer look.
Detail of kepala on a batik, stunning detail
at 'Peacock Power' at Peranakan Museum in Singapore
Two block prints, probably from India, Coromandel Coast, early 18th century,
collected separately, one used in a baju panjang, the other as full cloth.
Look at the long triangles on the side, like the tumpals in batik.
Detail of kepala on a batik, stunning detail
at 'Peacock Power' at Peranakan Museum in Singapore
Kalamkari hanging, Iran. 19th century
On loan from the Islamic Arts Muscum Malaysia
Detail of kepala on a batik, stunning detail
at 'Peacock Power' at Peranakan Museum in Singapore
Fake version of the previous
Printed hanging from Manchester or Lancashire, England, 19th century
at 'Peacock Power' at Peranakan Museum in Singapore
Display with batiks, beaded slippers and kebaya
at 'Peacock Power' at Peranakan Museum in Singapore
Detail of Pagi-Sore batik
at 'Peacock Power' at Peranakan Museum in Singapore
Kain Panjang batik from Solo and a Cheongsam
at 'Peacock Power' at Peranakan Museum in Singapore
On Tuesday 20 & Wednesday 22 January me & Tony got to join the promising conference ‘Global tropics: Fashion and Southeast Asia Conference’ at Lasalle, thanks Sufi for inviting us!
The conference was held to open their new Fashion research lab ‘Equatorial’; The Equatorial Fashion Research Lab is an inclusive international research space that advances fashion practice and theory from Southeast Asia in connection to the world. It aims to create a site for fashion theorists, researchers and practitioners to conduct research rooted in the region’s lived realities. The inaugural Global Tropics conference marks our first gathering of practitioners and theorists, creating a space to meet and engage in meaningful dialogue shaped by the region’s perspectives.
Opening speech by Dr. Circe Henestrosa with on the slide Thao Vu of Kilomet109
Panel 'Decolonising the Imaginary Nusantara' with Sufiyanto Amat Sopingi of Kebaya Societé
To our surprise Thao Vu of Kilomet109 was on the program too. We met her in Laos during the ASEAN symposium and I later visit her in Hanoi. I had the Hmong batik skirt I bought there with me this trip! What a cosmic alignment her being in town while we made the exhibition inspired by the symposium in Laos! She later that week came visit aNERDgallery and it is so wonderful how the love for textile (traditions) really connected us globally! A thank you to Linda McIntosh who brought us all together in Laos!
The conference raised interesting questions, but it didn’t really go there. Stuck between politeness and perhaps distance to some of the topics, made it that only some of the speakers really brought the topic of the ‘tropics’ to the students. The main question I had was, do the students realize this too. If speakers all share the same stage, how does the audience know which words matter more? Which points of view might be dare I say, problematic, in the outside work, or which brand-visions will get lost when being worn in the actual world, becoming therefore the very thing they try to undo. Was impressed by the talks by Dr. Circe Henestrosa, Dr. Valerie Steele, Dr. Courtney Fu and Genevieve Clutario, wonderful to see fashionbrand Kilomet109 & Malay kebaya heritage by Kebaya societé on stage.
The famous mural of Kampong Glam highlighting the role of textile trade in Arab street
In between the conference I was browsing the shops in Little India for batik & most of all fake batik. It seems the more labels something has, the more fake (read machine or silkscreen printed) it is.
Same in Arab street/Kamping Glan where I went on Friday morning. The textiles shops in that neighborhood are closing down, replaced by the same souvenir shops. Literally the same, selling the same magnets, keychains & other SG plastic tourist stuff. The closing of the textile stores is blamed on the lack of shoppers, but also the increasing rents, doubling the rent is crazy. But there is also another element to it, very much linked to all of this.
It was here in the not so long ago past, you got get the most luxurious fabrics, from other places in Asia, but also from Europe. Now this is replaced by machine produced imitations. In Arab street you see the word Batik painted on the outside, but real batik is hard to find. Mixed between silkscreen and machine prints, some batik cap (stamped) can be found, but nothing really shares the real beauty of, or love for batik. This lack of quality is exactly what is going wrong. Obvious people can get all these fakes online, for an even lower price. There is no competing with that. So how to bring back quality, and more so customers who appreciated this quality. In a world where we just focus on growth and making more and more, it is quality that is becoming less. We see it happening everything and this development is part of that.
It was nice to chat about this and other textile matters with Oniatta of Galerie Tokokita in Kampong Glam. Is she the only one left selling actual batik in this historical textile neighborhood?
Textile shop in Arab Street
Fake batik for sell in Arab street
with in the background the selling out signs of one of the soon to be closed stores
But no real batik in sight...
Found a wax resist decorated sari fabric in Little India
Pile of machine & silkscreen printed textiles with batik labels on them in Little India
The rest of my time in Singapore I tried to see as many Singapore Art Week exhibitions as possible. Although I love any type of Art, I was surprised that textile art wasn’t a big thing. Textiles were used as inspirations for art works, but there were hardly any works made with textile.
I asked Adele of Muta Wear if she knew of any textile related exhibitions. She told about the work of Teck Lim.
The work he showed at Baroque House Art Gallery is a tribute to his late mother. Piles of her neatly folded cloths are featured in several of the photographic artworks.
I thought it might make me really sad. I was the first visitor and the artist was there. We just rolled into this lovely conversation. Got to take a tissue from the box to keep. Left with a smile that continued throughout the day.
At the Gillman Barracks, an old army side turned into multiple small galleries, textile was a source of inspiration, but not the medium to work in. There were two exhibitions inspired by the same traditional Balinese textile…
At the Indian Heritage Centre textiles were featured, but it was only a pop-up for the weekend.
We also joined a tour by Post Museum on my last Sunday in Singapore. With the question ‘Art for Everyone’ our guide Zulfa brought us to public art and art by the public. It was a nice contrast with the Art SG which was definitely an art selling show, for who ever has large enough walls for paintings.
I enjoyed being more in the art-scene than the textile scene this visit. It showed me another, dare I say younger side, of Singapore.
Tech Lim's 'Ahead of Time' at Baroque House Art Gallery
'Stealing Beauty (Steel Garden - After Durer's A Great Piece of Turf) '
by Anila Quayyum Agha (b. 1965, Lahore, Pakistan) is an expansive wall-relief, comprises visual elements from South Asian Islamic culture enmeshed
with motifs by the 19th-century British textile designer William Morris.
By re-imagining these patterns, the artist considers questions about inspiration versus appropriation and how we often value or legitimize art based on who created it.
At Sundaram Tagore gallery at Gillman Barracks
For Ibrahim Mahama first solo exhibition in Singapore, he weaves together reclaimed materials - sacks, maps, documents, photographs - to compose a geography of colonial memory. The material, sewn, folded, and scarred, is never neutral: it bears witness to the passage from colonialism to global extractivism, from commodity to body, from official history to embodied memory.
At Gillman Barracks
'Wastra' by Kemalezedin
Wastra means cloth or textile.
at the Mizuma Gallery At Gillman Barracks
'Tools of resistance' by Lim E-Lynn Joanne part of MirrorBall
At Gillman Barracks
Batiks by Safira, including the sarong she is wearing, at Indian Heritage Centre
Mural in one of the tunnels of Singapore, visited during the Post Museum SAW tour
On Saturday 24 January I got to give the Paper Sarong workshop for the first time in Singapore at aNERDgallery. During the week I was testing out different materials to get the right result. With 18 participants, we were more than fully booked, having them working in 6 groups creating a paper sarong. Starting with an introduction on how batiks can have different designs depending on when they were made and what size, I invited everyone to draw first individually. Drawing something that they thought would represent them, big or small, could be a pretty flower you saw that morning or a symbol explaining more about who they are.
After creating these, I asked each group to put their drawings together into one bigger design, by discussing what everyone drew and why and how it can be put together. This is always such a interesting moment in which participants get really into it. The designs were divers and so much fun. A big lotus flower, view of Marina Bay, the land, the sea & the sky twice, food motifs in an udan liris design & two very sad cats.
We made a round to every group sharing the story of their paper sarong. My favorite part of this workshop. It is wonderful to see how the participants, often strangers at first, can make this together in just of few hours.
Short introduction with examples of batiks showing the different designs and layouts
Trying out the materials before working a the Paper Sarong together
Singapore inspired designs were made
Every group sharing the story behind their paper sarong
Every group sharing the story behind their paper sarong
Time flew, so much to do, so many people to meet, so much catching up to be done. It was absolutely wonderful to get to spend two weeks in Singapore, joining the exhibition ’The Cloth Remembers’ activities and so much more. Between the rangolis of Pongal and the gold & red of Chinese New Year, it was a great moment to be in Singapore and see Art, art, Art!
Thank you Mondriaan Fonds for making this journey possible!
Thank you Tony for having me!
Looking forward to all our new plans!
Like our new tour that was just announced, join us in October for aNERD tour by me ‘Journey to Batik, info & to book go to https://anerdgallery.com/product/edition-2-of-2026-journey-to-batik/
Stall with Chinese New Year decorations
