Tebu dan Batik*

* Sugan Cane and Batik

Ibu Siti shows the re-make of her exhibition batik

View from one of the remaining building of the sugarfactory Kaliwoengoe 

After finishing my program in Jakarta, it was finally time to travel together with Koen. On the 29 of November 2023 we headed to Pekalongan. I was happy I already had a short visit a month earlier, but extra happy I got to take Koen now to meet everyone in Pekalongan and Batang. 

We stayed in the Sidji Hotel. My first time. I wanted to include a little bit of Batik history also for the places we slept at. The rooms, or our room was nothing special, but the hotel itself is pretty nice and shows how old {colonial} buildings can be repurposed.

In 1918, a couple named Hoo Tong Koey and Tan Seng Nio—who were very much a part of the thriving Pekalongan society then—began the construction of this house (today, the house serves as The Sidji’s lobby). According to the family lore, Seng Nio—the wife—was the driving force behind its main architecture and completion.

The couple began trading batik dyes before expanding to batik making. They set up a workshop for this purpose in the back of the house. It was an astute move—for the family business continued to prosper for many generations. Behind it all was the industrious Seng Nio—who managed operations while raising six children—some of whom would later raise their own families in this town.

Later on, this success allowed the flamboyant and charismatic Tong Koey to indulge in his passion for traditional music. He formed a gamelan troupe that performed for the crème de la crème of Pekalongan society. His involvement in the Peranakan community awarded him the title ‘Lieutenant der Chinezen’ (Lieutenant of the Chinese)—the third highest rank for Peranakan in the colonial hierarchy.

as can be read on the website of The Sidji Hotel. Although the building is very beautiful, we didn't really feel like using it as a photoshoot area as many guests do, but I think it is still interesting to stay here from a Batik historical point of view.

Entrance of the hotel which use to be the veranda

Photo at The Sidji Hotel of their batik past

Floor tiles at The Sidji Hotel

The always helpful Mas Qomar arranged a car for us for two days, which was very nice because the first day was very hot and the second day there was so much rains, that Koen saw his first banjir {flood} on Java. 

First day we went and meet with Ibu Rujaemah and her granddaughter Salmah. I only met them last year for the first time. During my short visit a month earlier, I visited again. I really love the batiks in the style Batik Masin and as I shared in my previous blog I ordered something made from their only one sided batik. The outer {jacket} was made without any measuring, but with videos me and Ibu Salmah send back and forth trying the figure out if we can use our hands instead. The outer turned out really nice and looking forward to see if we can make more items in near future. We looked at several batiks, finished ones and those that are partly in production. I always learn a lot from seeing these steps in the process, especially about the artists behind the work. New motif name I learned, That Ibu Rujaemah uses a lot, Pendal Sukun. It is based on the skin of the fruit with the same name that is in English 'Breadfruit'. The motif consist of bigger circles surrounded by smaller dots, like the skin of the fruit, but I found it on images online with either spikes or more like gringsing almost.

Batik Masin in different stages of the wax and dyeing process

Koen folding my new outer 

Next stop on our first day was Ibu Umriyah, Mak Sium. Next to seeing batiks in production, since everyone bought a lot of her pieces during the Pasar Batik at Erasmus Huis in Jakarta {Thank you!}, we shared stories on our stay in Jakarta. It is so lovely to hear how everyone enjoyed the openingsweekend. Read more about that in 'Building the future of Batik'. 

Mak Sium son-in-law Achyar was explaining how I am one of few that come visit them in Batang and that I am considered family. To emphasize, Mak Sium went to get something for us. We got 2,5 kilo of rice from her own ricefield. What an honour!

Mas Qomar and Mak Sium son-in-law Achyar

Mak Sium new batiks in the making

Me and Mak Sium

Last visit on our first day was to Ibu Rasminah. Koen was wearing the blouse I let made last year by The Aria Batik with a batik by Ibu Rasminah. She was over the moon. She wanted us to take a picture with her, but first we had to get wrapped in matching batiks. It was actually a really nice look the batik shirt with the matching sarong, with the kepala on the back. I had to wear a batik too, did not choose a matching one, but one with a classic ship motif I never saw before at Ibu Rasminah. Of course I had to buy it.

Posing with Ibu Rasminah wrapped in her batiks

Next day we started at Museum Batik in Pekalongan. The tour organised by Tony of aNERDGallery was there too, so we got to see the group from Singapore, including Eunice. Mas Dewa was their museumguide, who we already met for lunch and dinner when we arrived. It is kinda surreal being in a place I know so well together with Koen. Of course everyone is very curious to meet Koen and Koen laughs every time someone comes around the corner with "Hallo Miss Sabine". 

Finally a photo at the letters BATIK in Pekalongan

Tony of aNERDgallery and Mas Dewa giving a guided tour through Museum Batik in Pekalongan

After our visit, we headed to Batang to spend time with Ibu Siti, Nurul Maslahah, Maulida and their mother Ibu Bayinah. We started at Ibu Siti’s home, seeing her family again and seeing all the orders she got after the Pasar Batik. I am so happy to see that my exhibition could have such an impact already. Hopefully it is not a one time thing, but can develop in something more sustainable. In Siti's living room she made a small display with the poster of the exhibition and printed photographs so that visitors can see it. It makes me so proud. 

After lunch we went to Nurul. Nurul got recently married and was a few days home, so we were very lucky we got to meet her and her husband in Batang. We looked at batiks, finished and in progress. Learned about the different parangs they make in Batang that I later saw again in Museum Danar Hadi. The Parang Kembang which looks like a flower ready to open up and Parang Ikan which is a little fish that caught with a hook.

Because the rain kept pouring down, we had the head back to the hotel on time. Roads leading into the small neighbourhoods along the way back to Pekalongan were already blocked. The street was already more a river showing how severe the situation truly is.

Parang Ikan in process

 Ibu Kustiyah, Ibu Siti,  Ibu Bayinah, Nurul Maslahah and Mbak Maulida 

Mbak Nurul with one of her batiks

After only two full days In Pekalongan and Batang, we headed the next place on our to visit list, Semarang. We stayed in the South of Semarang in a very lovely green guesthouse. We unfortunately didn’t get to go to Ungaran because of heavy rain in the afternoon, but I was so glad Mas Aris came to meet us when we just arrived. 

On Sunday 3 December we got to explore Kaliwungu and the surrounding area with Mas Ruwanto. Last year I met with Mas Ruwanto and we visited the sugarfactory that is part of both our research. Read more in the blogpost 'Ubud, Sumber Salak, Ungaran and Kaliwungu'. 

We met in the morning at what remains of the sugarfactory. The growth that was over powering the old constructions has been maintained. Making the buildings less romantic, but making it much more visible in what poor state they are. The 'waterpomphuis' roof seems ready to collapse. But from what I gather our hands are tied. As long as the police doesn't give permission to do anything with the buildings, there is nothing that can be done to protect the buildings from slowly crumbling. I still believe the buildings and certainly the 'waterpomphuis' that is right next to the road can be put to good use. If it could be renovated, it could be a little exhibition space with photos from the past showing the history of the sugarfactory and the later war years. I hope we can get to some kind of arrangement soon, before the buildings are merely piles. But I was happy to visit so soon again and now show Koen. We were again welcomed and escorted over the terrain. Took much more photos, since the weather was although hot, very sunny, of all the buildings, inside and out. 

One of the remaining buildings of the sugarfactory Kaliwoengoe, 

the center is still being used while on the sides it is falling apart

Posing with Mas Ruwanto Tri in front of the 'waterpomphuis'

Eastside of the sugarfactory Kaliwoengoe with view on the office 

and rails of the Semarang Cheribon Stoomtram Maatschappij. 

On the left the 'waterpomphuis'. From between 1910-1925. KITLV 49716, Collection UB Leiden

After a saté-lunch, for Koen, we went to see the small train station of Kaliwungu. I don't know why, but this time it caught my eye in the train and just had to go there. 

Ruwanto made a Facebook post after our visit on the history of this train station and the connection to the sugarfactory. So some info from that post with extra details added by me:

The first railway was made in 1867 connecting Semarang with Tangung, Surabaya. Both important habour cities that were used by the Dutch goverment to export and import goods. Among these goods were the colonial goods or 'koloniale waren' in Dutch that were the products produced on Java under the 'Cultuurstelsel'. After the Cultuurstelsel was ended, of course plantations kept producing tea, coffee and sugar that were mostly shipped out of Java. The Samarang–Cheribon Stoomtram Maatschappij, N.V. (SCS) build and operate the Semarang West - Kaliwoengoe railway line, including the main branch line to the Kaliwungu sugar factory, which opened on Sunday, May 2, 1897. Apart from being a line for passengers, the railway continued to function as a transportation for sugar, also called 'het witte goud' {white gold}. 

Transport of sugarcane on tracks near the Sugarfactory Kaliwoengoe, 

between 1910-1925, KITLV 4975, Collection UB Leiden

Train station Kaliwungu with Koen and Mas Ruwanto

The train station is still manned, but no trains stop there anymore. We were welcomed to look around and take some photos, but not of the office. 

While headed to our next location, Mas Ruwanto also pointed out the still remaining railway tracks next to the road that use to lead to the sugarfactory. The railways were mostly dug up during the Japanese occupation. The metal was used to make weapons according to the stories.

During lunch we learned a local expression. If a drink is not sweet, in Kaliwungu they say; "We must be far from the sugarfactory". Showing how intertwined the history of the sugarfactory still is with the nowadays Kaliwungu.

What remains of Onderneming Djatti Kalangan

Rooftiles may be useful to date the buildings

We ended our daytrip at the Onderneming Djatikalangan, where in the past tea and coffee were processed, but now matches are made. I was nearby this place already in 2019, after I find in documents that next to the sugarfactory, the Ottenhoff family also owned Onderneming Djatti Kalangan in Ungaran. I found on Google maps that there was still a road called Jalan Raya Jatikalangan. I headed there and we came across what looked like a factory, but the person I was with didn't want to go in. 

Talking on WA with Mas Ruwanto to prepare for this trip, I mentioned the name of the onderneming and soon after he came back with the possible location. The same place I was at in 2019. 

To our surprise two older buildings still remain on the ground. One from the early 20th century, but one maybe older. It looks like a Dutch farmhouse. The roof tiles turned out to have some leads for us to follow, ‘steenbakkery tegal’ and different company names, so things to dive further in. The people we met didn't know anything about the buildings or the history of the place, but let us look around, even inside and take many photographs. 

It was so much fun to explore with a fellow researcher, so happy we got to spend time and share knowledge. I learned and get to see so much. Thank you Mas Ruwanto!

On Monday 4 December I got the news that my exhibition was in the news. A really wonderful article by journalist Sylviana Hamdani with the impressive title 'Masa Depan, Batik, Unveiling the industry's challenges and reshaping the future' in the newspaper The Jakarta Post. Hamdani attended the opening and interviewed me and the pembatiks. I didn't expect any article to still come out, but this was more then just an article. It goes in much depth on several artworks and features next to a photo of me with my selfportrait, also a lovely portrait of Mak Sium and Mbak Nurul with their batiks, the oldest and the youngest pembatik featured in the exhibition.

"We need to show this craftsmanship to the younger generation to make it more future-oriented and sustainably resilient," Bolk said on the opening night."At the same time, this is also an invitation to reflect on the future of batik."

'Masa depan Batik | Future of Batik' will re-open on Tuesday 9 January and will still be on display till 20 January 2024 at Erasmus Huis in Jakarta.
Keep an eye out on my blog to for further updates on me and Koen's journey to Batik!

Last acara* in Jakarta

Last program* in Jakarta

Ibu Ramini dyeing a Batik during the Batikworkshop 

on 25 November at Erasmus Huis

Singhasari statues at the National Gallery in Jakarta

Batik research workshop at Museum Batik

On the way home after what I could only call the perfect journey to Batik. It was so wonderful to have next the exhibition, which is in sorts an overview of the passed 14 years, a journey to all (most all) the places I have been in those 14 years together with Koen. The places where my journey begin, all the people, my batik family who I got to work with, learn from, help me so much and now got to spend time with together with Koen finally!

In the Botanic garden in Bogor

Our first full day on Java together, Friday 24 November, after Koen arrived and he saw ‘Masa depan Batik’ at Erasmus Huis, we spend in the Botanical garden in Bogor. Although it was very hot, and still is, you can walk there in the shade of the very old trees. It was funny to hear Koen reaction to the bees here, that are the size of perhaps a hummingbird. I remember reacting like that, only to find out that these flying giants never bother you.

In the evening Ibu Ramini and Tasya arrived from Lasem. The next day, on Saturday 25 November, Ibu Ramini would lead the Batikworkshop. It is so great I got to organise this. A real Batikworkshop given by a real batikmaker, and not anybody, Ibu Ramini of KUB Srikandi. The place that made me fall in love with Batik forever.

I asked Koen to join me at the end of my program, so he could join this workshop. It was so nice to have this extra time to hang out together. Ibu Ramini considered the workweekend as a real holiday, she said she loved how she has to do nothing, no household shores. And she is totally right, it is very luxueus to work in this way, at home I know all too well the struggle of trying to keep the house tidy while juggling multiple projects. But the big difference, me and Koen do it together, while for most women on Java they have to do everything alone. In Ibu Ramini case running a business while also running the household. 

Guidance by Ibu Ramini on how to use the canting

Tasya, Koen and Ibu Ramini

Lorod by Mas Edy

Ibu Ramini shared her knowledge on Batik with us on 25 November. The participants worked with the cantings she brought ~ from Pekalongan ~ while Museum Tekstil proved cantings from Solo. Also we worked with synthetic dyes. A react dye that first appears orange and turns green in the second bath, or first looks just wet and turns grayish blue. When mixing the two a very nice dark blueish green was made. Very different process from the natural Indigo we learned from Elisa of Jikaloka on 4 November. 

It was exciting in the morning because Ibu Ramini was not yet sure what colours it would give, but they turned out so beautiful. 

The workshop was again given in collaboration with Museum Tekstil with the amazing guidance of Ibu Yeni and Mas Edy. A wonderful collab! I am so happy we got to organise this at Erasmus Huis. 

Special thank you to Miss Tasya for joining Ibu Ramini on her journey to Jakarta & helping so much with the workshop. 

Koen made a great Batik. Ibu Ramini approved of his blocking skills! 

His Batik is a tribute to me: Batik ~ Baik ~ Bolk. How sweet is that!

Batik ~ Baik ~ Bolk by Koen de Wit

The Batikworkshop marked the official last scheduled program, but I had two more workshops to go on Monday.

On Sunday we had a relax morning, having breakfast the four of us, before Ibu Ramini and Tasya pulang {returned home}. Luckily this goodbye was not so heavy, since the sampai jumpa {see you later} was in two weeks.

In the afternoon me & Koen visited Museum Macan. Heard many positive things about this museum and seeing instastories on their recent exhibition ‘Voice Against Reason’ I had to see it.

The museum is located in what looks like a small mall or office building. A few escalators up, you arrive in a typical modern art museum space with a nice view on the city. I think depending on whats on show, makes the visit worthwhile. Good that this exhibition is amazing! It is still on show till 14-4-2024!

The exhibition had a diversity in mediums; sculpture, paintings, tapestries, video work and even a modern wayang of which we got to see the last live performance! The artworks were by new and older modern artists. 

‘Sirkus di Tanah Pengasingan: Oyong-oyong Ayang-ayang’ 

by Jumaadi and the Shadow Factory, 

using papercut & overhead projectors at Museum Macan

Video installation 'Perpetuity' (2023) by Nadiah Bamadhaj 

at Museum Macan

It still amazes me how being an artist here, and being in an Art collective, is so different from the Netherlands. Real collectives are rare, while in Indonesia it seems odd to work alone. Although I feel removed from the art-world in the Netherlands, on Java I feel my work fits really well within the art-world. How I work, together preferable, has always been a given. Here I am never asked What I make specifically as an artist, what I make is not being divided into certain fields. It is just what I make. 

It was therefore especially great to get the freedom to make ‘Masa depan Batik’ as I wanted, including the program, in Jakarta. 

Analog photo by Oxalis of Erasmus Huis of me with my Batik selfportrait

On Monday morning 27 November I got to give my Batik research workshop at Museum Batik. This brand new batik museum was officially opened last Hari Batik, 2 October, and I got to visit it last year already. 

Some of the people of museum joined my workshop at Erasmus Huis, and it was so great to get asked to give it at the museum. Not just for the Batik Museum, but other museums at Taman Mini Indonesia as well. It was also great that I got to take Koen to this museum. 

The workshop was really great again to do. The participants, especially the new generation, had smart questions, going beyond what I put on paper. So that made me very happy as you can imagine. 

In the previous posts ‘Pasar Batik & Batik Research Workshop at Erasmus Huis’  & ‘For the love of Batik’ I wrote more about this workshop and the reason behind it.

The museum is closed on Mondays but we & the participants got a tour from Mas Swa, the curator of the museum. Going first through the oldest history, the making of batik, we quickly reached the point where the influence in Batik is described. Mas Swa laughed nervously when reaching the display on European influence.

“I feel this is a test” he said before starting the explanation. The text sign still says ‘Batik Belanda’, but he nicely said, “we call this batik with an European influence”, and I asked “And no longer Batik Belanda?” And he said: “yes!”

Yeahh!! I explained shortly to the group why this name ‘Batik Belanda is wrong to use and that it is actual the name for imitation batik from Europe. 

I just want to say thank you again to Museum Batik! I hope we can keep on working & sharing together in the (near) future!

Batik research workshop at Museum Batik

Guided tour though Museum Batik by Mas Swa

The Green Batik Workshop at Erasmus Huis

Right after the workshop at the museum, we had to get in a Grab {taxi} to Erasmus Huis where the next workshop was about to start. 

The Green Batik Workshop: From Tradition To Innovation together with the Water Agency. 

A month before I met Carrina & Octi of The Water Agency together with Ivo of the Dutch embassy. Because of my exhibition, they wanted to see if we could do an event to share the project ‘Pekalongan Green Batik’ and also see if its event can maybe creates a continuation of the project.

The idea quickly arise to do a workshop, or idea sharing session, with people from the field. Not just to water management/improvement field, or the people from Pekalongan they met earlier with, but a wider group that can share about sustainability. Got to invite people from my own network I thought would love to dive in this topic and would be wonderful to have in a room together, not just any room, the library next to my exhibition. 

I was very honoured by who took the efford to join, some all the way from Yogya & Bandung, even Singapore.  Read more here Green batik workshop, a start for change

As for the future of Batik in Pekalongan when it comes to their problems with water, many ideas come on the table, but if the batik bosses in Pekalongan will do anything with it, remains the question. Also batik is not really the industry we should focus on when we talk about the water issues in this city. Read more in this post ‘How a red flood in Pekalongan reveals many issues, but blames Batik‘.

That being said, we do want, no we need to create safe workingspaces for pembatiks. If the water use is the batikworkshops could improve, or other parts could become more sustainable. For example the idea was shared to replacing wood burning for ‘lorod’ {boiling out the wax} with solar heating, a pretty simple solution which would work with that much sun. Yet investment is the main problem, where to get the budget for it if you are in reality just surviving day by day in this craft. 

I am sure there are many more ideas, and solutions out there. We just need people who want, can & will pionier in this field. Who is going to create the first sustainable batik village on Java? 

The Green Batik Workshop at Erasmus Huis

On 28 November both Nidi & Tony were at Erasmus Huis to update “our lab”. Me and Nidi worked on finding the ingredients, first in the text and later in the world. Tony translated the Javanese text in the booklet. We couldn’t find all ingredients for red yet and the brown turned out to be three different recipes, low ~ middle ~ and high Sogan. So we focussed on the brown for now, which Van Musschenbroek confusingly calls “red dyeing with Soga”. 

So in the Natural Dye Lab you will find the first translations, first test with Indigo and now also the ingredients for Soga. 

Tony, Nidi and I updating the Natural Dye Lab at Erasmus Huis

Natural Dye Recipe Project is a collaboration of Indonesian artist Nidi Kusmaya, curator Tony Sugiarta and Dutch artist and researcher Sabine Bolk that started during the pandemic in 2021. At Erasmus Huis we share the project for the first time in the Natural Dye Lab in the exhibition ‘Masa depan Batik.

Through this research-based textile project, Bolk, Kusmaya and Sugiarta aim to trace historical narratives and the connections through material exploration used in batik natural dyes. There is a knowledge gap in the technical execution and historical account of how natural dyes were used in batik in the past versus how they are used today. Due to limited records since the oral history has been lost, we depend on old writings often in Dutch. 

The starting point for this researchproject is therefor one of the oldest published dye recipe books in Dutch, ‘Iets over de inlandsche wijze van katoen-verven op Midden-Java’ (Something on the local way of Cotton dyeing on Central Java) by the Dutch Samuel Corneille Jean Wilhelm van Musschenbroek (1827 - 1883). The booklet was published in 1877 and was translated by Van Musschenbroek from a Javanese text which he doesn’t specify. He was based on Java as a civil servant and had an interest in local traditions. He also commissioned batik motifs drawn in wax on cardboard, so at least he was aware of the technique.

The text by Van Musschenbroek is translated by us to re-create the old recipes and find workable formulas. For Erasmus Huis we focus on three natural colours, namely blue, brown and red.

Before the exhibition opened, we prepared everything for Indigo. Nidi had a very busy program with two other exhibitions, but still created an amazing display with dye samples, materials & measuring tools.

We are planning to continue our project, in collaboration with pembatiks & textile dyers, hopefully next year!

Natural Dye Lab at Erasmus Huis

The last Jakarta activity before we continued our journey to Pekalongan, was a visit to the exhibition ‘Repatriasi: Kembalinya Saksi Bisu Peradaban Nusantara’. The exhibition is in honour of the returned objects from the Netherlands. The entrance was for the Singhasari statues that have been in Netherlands for 204 years. I saw them regularly in Leiden, where they marked the entrance of the Indonesia collection. The statues were mostly ignored, but when the news came they were finally going to go home, many people went to the museum to see them. I also said goodbye, or actually wished them ‘Selamat pulang’ a day or so before they would be packed and send on their journey. 

Seeing them so soon again was wonderful, but I am also sad they are still not really home. Now on display at the National Gallery, later perhaps on display at Museum Nasional, but when will they be on the ground they were actually taken from?

Only of the statues at the entrance you could take photos, or videos. Behind them were projections as if they were opening up a portal to another, previous world.

Inside were the pieces attributed to Diponegoro  and part of the “Lombok treasure” {Are we still calling it that?!? I read it in several articles and yes it was called that for the longest time in the Netherlands, but can we just say “Objects stolen from Lombok” or “Lombok loot? }. 

I might have seen most of these objects before, but here I really saw their beauty, their importance and above all the cruelty of stealing these objects. 

The exhibition was small, didn’t have much info, but it was great nevertheless to get to visit it!

Singhasari statues at the National Gallery in Jakarta

Finished & posted this blog back in the Netherlands. We returned home after a long trip from Lasem to Jakarta, from Jakarta to Amsterdam, to our final destination Utrecht. It is nice traveling back and seeing the places we have been, saying goodbye again. 

For the love of Batik

Me and Koen in the exhibition 'Masa depan Batik' at Erasmus Huis

Live on SEA Today Live on 17 November

Haven’t updated much on our travels, it is so wonderful to introduce Mas Koen to everyone. It feels very relax having Koen finally on my side here and he luckily enjoys it very much despits the heat & tummy ache. 

Before Koen’s arrival in Jakarta I still had a full program. Returning from Singapore on 17 November I was a guest at SEA Today, an online newschannel, who interviewed me through Zoom.   I never been on live tv, and was happy to have ‘The Newsroom’ experience through the all so familiar webcam. 

I was delayed and took me some time to reach my room. Luckily I had enough time to figure out how to hang some batiks for my live appearance. I was contacted about a week before if I wanted to join the show and giggled when I saw the announcement “Dutch woman’s love for Indonesian Batik”. Going live my canting earrings were the first thing being noticed, after that my outfit & backdrop. “Wauw you really love Batik!”.  It was wonderful to chat with the hosts Hans, Alia and Kai who clearly have a love for Batik too and know a lot. Thanks Nazila for inviting me! 

> watch the SEA Today Live back here

 

On Saturday 18 November I gave my ‘paper sarong workshop’ at Erasmus Huis. in two sessions groups of participants ~ kids and their equality active parents~ to draw together a batik design. 

The idea behind this workshop that you work together in creating a pattern. Usually pembatiks don’t work alone, but in groups. Everyone is first invited to draw a motif on a smaller paper. After the drawing is made, I ask them to combine them on a bigger paper. It is always wonderful to see what is made, also to see what is on kids minds. Next to flowers, ballerina’s, the somehow always popular ‘Kawung’ or Mega Mendung, there were robots, a t-rex and even planes on the way to war. The kids knew precisely how to draw the Palestinian flag.     

The created “paper sarongs” will be displayed at Erasmus Huis until the end of the exhibition ‘Masa depan Batik’, although they haven’t been hung up yet…

Working together to create motifs on a 'paper sarong'

One of the 'paper sarongs' made during the workshop at Erasmus Huis

On Monday 20 November got to give the Batik Research Workshop again. It is my favorite at the moment to do. It is so much fun to see the “ohhh” moments happen during this workshop. 

I have been working with the database of Worldmuseum (Wereldmuseum, former NMvW) for many years now and as a research associate I learned what is and is not online. The information is incomplete at best and filled in with mostly Dutch. So although it is a ‘rich’ collection useful for research, it is difficult to navigate. With the workshop I not only share how to use the database, but also how to search beyond the database. There is, unfortunately, too much trust in the completeness and accurateness of this database. What is written is seen as fact, as being the best researched collection, with the most knowledge to backup these claims. With some simple examples in the workshop, I show that there is more out there to find, discover, discuss and re-tell. 

I am happy to workshop is received so well, so when I get home I will create an online version of it.

For now, enjoy this database tutorial I made >> 

“Dokumentasi atau pelestarian batik tradisional masih dalam tahap awal. (…) Penelitian yang ditujukan untuk menghidupkan kembali atau mendokumentasikan pola-pola batik tua tidak cukup; publikasi oleh masyarakat Indonesia masih langka. Oleh karena itu, baik para pekerja batik maupun pengusaha batik tidak dapat melihat hal-hal istimewa atau mahakarya batik tradisional Indonesia.

Ada banyak kendala. Kini pertanyaan krusialnya adalah: ke mana kita harus pergi setelah ini? Bagaimana kita mengatasi tantangan tersebut? Bisakah tantangan tersebut benar-benar teratasi?”

- Iwan Tirta, 2000

“The documentation or preservation of traditional batik is in its infancy. (…) Not enough research is devoted to reviving or documenting old batik patterns; publications by Indonesians are scarce. Therefore neither batik workers nor batik entrepreneurs can see the highlights or masterpieces of Indonesian traditional batiks.

The obstacles are plenty. Now the crucial questions have become: where do we go from here? How do we overcome those challenges? Can they really be overcome?”

- Iwan Tirta, 2000

On Thursday morning Koen arrived in Jakarta. I went to pick him up at the airport. His first time in Java, in Asia for that matter, the first time flying so far. 

After a short nap in our room, he wanted to see my exhibition right away. Hard to describe to be able to finally share it. He of course was so much part of the process, not only practical; reading all my proposals, texts, listening to my ideas and worries, even helping me make all the text signs when I was already in Jakarta, but also the whole journey (to batik) till this point. 

When we headed outside for lunch, we run into Isabelle Boon. Isabelle had an exhibition ‘I love Banda’ shown in the Netherlands in 2021, which was amazing, and at Erasmus Huis in 2022. I followed the process closely, knowing I had my exhibition to make there too. The first time I met Isabelle was at a program in the Netherlands. We went for lunch together and what she shared was so helpful for my preparations. 

On the 18th, in the weekend I met with Joëlla van Donkersgoed.  She came to my exhibition and we later had dinner together, chatting till late like we already met several times, while it was actually the first time off screen. 

Joëlla and Isabelle were recently on Banda to return the Hikayat Lonthior, a long lost manuscript on the history of the Banda Islands. I admire Joëlla & Isabelle work so much, and it was such a surprise to meet them both. And have them visit my exhibition. Thank you for all your compliments, I know I am terrible at accepting them, it means the world to me!

I also would like to thank all other visitors. Every time I went to Erasmus Huis I would see people looking around, reading, watching the videos, posing for photos and colouring (perhaps the most busy part of my pameran). I saw people dressed in Batik, sitting in the library going through the batik books. Online there are great tiktok videos and instagram posts of my exhibition, I appreciate it so much and I am so happy it being shared like this! Also thank you for those who visited and send me a selfie! I wish I could give everyone a tour!

I am currently on the road with Koen. After visiting Pekalongan, Batang, Kaliwungu and Semarang, we are now on the way to Yogyakarta. 

Isabelle and me in the exhibition