Lecturer’s life for me

After picking up my badge for the symposium in Laos

Talk at De Lakenhal in Leiden on 6 April 

about the Leidse Cottonprinting Company (Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij)

Photo by Koen de Wit

Talk at the International Association for the Study of Silk Road Textiles 

(IASSRT) symposium in Laos

Sorry for not updating, I have been sharing stories, but not here on my blog, so time for a much needed update. After returning from my journey abroad end of November 2024, I had right away a depot visit, worked on a private collection and gave a guest lecture at the university in Amsterdam. 

I took time off in January and February to catch up on all the things I didn’t get to finish before I left, but mostly spend it making new plans, writing blogs for Modemuze and preparing for talks. 

Showing batiks from my own collection and brought by the audience on 16 March 

during a talk on Batik influenced by Chinese culture

Photo by Koen de Wit

End of February I gave my first talk of this year, and after that I gave 4 more, all on different topics. It felt like a lecturer’s life for me. I do enjoy sharing stories in the form of a talk. Selecting images for the slideshow, digging in my archive of own made photographs and historical pictures. Thinking on what talk about, what angles to address and with what to conclude. To create a flow in which the audience can go with me, following my train of thought and can have hopefully the same ‘aha’ moments as I had when researching it. 
Apart from selecting images to show, I always try to include actual textiles, books and making tools. Depending on the space, I either show the textiles myself, ask someone to show it around or just pass it along. So people can really get a closer look. I also enjoy dressing up for the gig. Of course in style, either in batik, or kebaya, to make Batik Statements on stage. The suit I let made for my exhibition ‘Masa depan Batik’ opening is a fan favorite. I am always asked by the audience if I can tell something about my outfit, which is so nice. The kebaya my friend Liesna made for me has been wonderful to wear during two talks now on the researchproject ‘Meaning of the white kebaya’. The colorful flower-design modern kebaya gives the right contrast with the herstory of the colonial, yet still relevant white European style kebaya we talk about. 

My talk on the herstory of the white kebaya at KB on 3 October 2024

Photo by Koen de Wit

Dido Michielsen and I looking at the white kebaya exhibition 

we made at KB in Den Haag. 

Photo by Koen de Wit

So what have been sharing in my talks.
Last year I got to give a total of 10 talks. Mostly on my research done on the Dutch influence on Batik, specifically the impact of the imitations, but also to share new research I done with Dido Michielsen on the white kebaya. On 3 October we organized a full day program to explore this clothing piece, that is part of our Dutch colonial history and is still worn in Southeast Asia. 
The reason to start researching was the private collection of Dido Michielsen, in which batiks and kebaya’s have been saved worn by familymembers. But who exactly worn them hasn’t been passed on. We joined forces to research the pieces and hope in this way to unravel their provenance. Of the batiks I knew a lot already, but of kebaya’s  I knew little. The 10 kebaya were all white with a straight bottom edge, mostly decorated with lace. This is here considered European style or even ‘Indisch’ (Indo-European). I started looking for information, reading in books and articled. The same, short narrative of this garment seemed to be repeated everywhere. That this kebaya was to emphasis the wearers position, specifically as a position above everyone else in the former Dutch East Indies, nowadays Indonesia. The garment was also according to most authors better, more expensive and luxuries than what was worn traditionally locally. This Eurocentric point of view was highlighted by the end date of the white kebaya, after the 1920’s no lady was wearing it, certainly not outdoors, only perhaps Indo-Europeans still wore it at home. Europeans frown upon it and in literature, mostly novels, of the time this differences between the upperclass groups is highlighted at every possible moment. Although the ‘Indische romans’, novels on life in the Dutch East indies, were often written by women with roots in the colony, most historical writing on kebaya’s has been done by men. I got curious, is this really the story and meaning of the white kebaya? Could we find out more?
We applied for funding, and got it! A funding by Vfonds specifically for Indo-European and Moluccan intangible heritage projects in the Netherlands. 
The literature we examined gave more  questions than answers, so we came up with a plan to gather more data. With an open call we asked people to share wearers stories with us. We asked if people still had actual white kebaya’s or photographs of wearers and could tell us more about the weaerers.
From this we started to get a sense of the divers background of wearers, but also a clearer timeline. The wearing of the white kebaya did not at inn the 1920’s, it continued into the 1950’s for sure.
We also talked with different experts, both in the Netherlands and in Indonesia and Singapore. From Indonesia we got to most interesting respons, the garment we thought was in the colonial past, was actual currently still being worn, mostly for special occasions and even trendy for weddings. Also the popularity of the white kebaya was more linked to an actual Indonesian wearer, the Javanese women’s rights activist Raden Ajeng Kartini. We spoke with slowfashiondesigner Riri Rengganis on this topic and she recorded a great video for us.

 

Our research was suppose to be shown at the Tong Tong Fair, with an exhibition and program. When they were declared bankrupted, we went looking for a new location since most preparations were done. We had 11 kebaya’s on loan of which we knew the possible wearer and their story. I made a timeline, starting at 1780 and continuing into now, with images, drawing, paintings & photographs from archives and send in after our open call. 
Luckily KB in Den Haag saw potential in our project and offered us space to organise an event, but also a pop-up exhibition. 
To see more, read more here (both posts are in Dutch, but with photos of the exhibition & event):
~ 'De witte kebaya in de KB'
~ Modemuze blog 'De witte Kebaya'

Talk on batik & imitation Batik on 5 October 2024 in Arnhem

Photo by Koen de Wit

Talk in Deventer on 26 February about the cottonprinting company Ankersmit 

Talk at De Lakenhal in Leiden on 6 April 

about the Leidse Cottonprinting Company (Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij)

Photo by Koen de Wit

Next to the kebaya, I have been working on the Dutch imitations, the real Batik Belanda. At the end of 2023 I started working with Textielmuseum Tilburg on a project to disclose one of their oldest museum collections, the Driessen collection. This collection was bought in the 1950’s and consists of textiles, literature on textile, sample- and dye recipe-books, correspondence and more archive material from and collected by the last director of De Leidse Katoenmaatschappij (Cotton printing company Leiden, LKM), Louis Driessen.
Louis André Driessen (1890-1954) run the based in the city center of Leiden cotton printing company until it was declared bankrupt in 1936. Driessen also working as a colorist (specialist in dyeing of fabrics), hold the collection together.
I knew and already worked with this collection, also for the Things That Talk zone I made, so it was great to help out and guide the volunteers who processed the collection. 
Working on this project it made me curious about the lasting impact and the connection with the still very high on demand fast fashion of Batik Print (machine printed textiles with batik motifs). Most focus has been on the influence of Wax Print in West-Africa, but the impact in Southeast Asia has been researched far less. When I saw the call for papers for the upcoming International Association for the Study of Silk Road Textiles (IASSRT), I knew it would be good to send in a proposal on this topic. Since it was held in Laos, it would be a could place to address the other less known markets for the fake batiks. The main focus was of course on Indonesia, at that time under Dutch colonial rule. The products went to Batavia, nowadays Jakarta, to Sumatra, Malaysia and Singapore. But they also went to other places such as Cambodia and Myanmar. The compagnies also adopted and copied other textiles made with techniques like ikat and tie-dye.
To my surprise and delight I got selected. Although nothing was compensated and I had to pay everything in full, I thought it would be good to be there in person, and it truly was! Seeing textile colleagues & friends from all over the world. I combined the symposium with exploring batik, imitations and other textile traditions in Bangkok, Laos and North Vietnam. It really gave me a new perspective and clarity to my journey to Batik, as I shared in my posts while traveling.

Talk at SEA Junction, in Bangkok, Thailand

speaker at the event 'Unravelling Colonial Textiles' on 27 March 

in the Kartini room in Amsterdam

Textiles from the study collection of UvA on display

in the former VOC room, renamed Kartini room

My journey was also noticed back home, resulting in being booked for talks, as a guest lecturer at the university in Amsterdam and for workshops, but also in a great double article in my favorite newspaper De Volkskrant. In the articles journalist Vanessa Oostijen explains my practice in which I use lessons from our colonial past to understand current processes such as Fast Fashion. And the important lessons we should and could learn from craftwomenship.

Articles in the magazine of De Volkskrant, written by Vanessa Oo

It is great to share the stories with an audience and being payed for my time & research. It is not the most sustainable or practical way of keeping my work going, but it is at least keeping me afloat. I really hope I can do more in depth research, got many dreams such as publishing books, making exhibitions, practicing batik making and much more. I am very proud my journey brought me now on stage, but I need to figure out how to survive in the meantime. This is not me complaining, far from it, but keeping it real on this blog, as you know. 

My blog is 16 years old on 21 April... I graduated in 2007, working now 18 years as an artist. I feel my journey to Batik is getting all grown-up. I am exciting for what is coming up this year; like the first journey to Batik you can actually join (more info here), my first Masterclass on making & dyeing Batik together with masterdyer Loret Karman and I am bringing ‘Masa depan Batik’ to the Netherlands!! You heard it here first! In October at Indonesia House in Amsterdam!

So see you and till next blogpost! 

Selamat Hari Kartini & Salam Canting! 

Batik Statement Essay

To keep up with traditions, I post today on my blog to celebrate my 14 years journey to Batik. Normally I share a Batik Statement in the form of a photo or photoseries. I did of course share photos on social media for this celebration. But for here I though I share a writing I did last Summer, that until today didn't get published. So might as well share it here. A Batik Statement in essay form, a first!

I would like to thank everyone who joined me, supported me & guided me on this journey to Batik. I hope I can learn, study and enjoy Batik for many more years to come. I would like to thank the pembatiks, those of the past and present for keeping this amazing legacy alive, terima kasih banyak/Matur nuwun!

Selamat membaca, have a wonderful Hari Kartini! Selamat Idul fitri and thank you for visiting my blog today!

Label on batik that was attributed to Von Franquemont

WM-27272, collection Wereldmuseum Rotterdam

Re-telling the history of the (Indo-)European influence on Batik - Sabine Bolk

In my research project ‘Re-telling the history of the (Indo-)European (2) influence on Batik’, the goal is to re-tell the history of (Indo-)European influence on Batik between 1850 and 1890. I chose this timeframe, because according to literature (1) this is when a European influence became visible in Batik designs. In my research I work with re-telling in words and images to give answers to the following question: How was Batik influenced by Europe? 

Von Franquemont as a starting point

My research starting point is Carolina Josephina von Franquemont (1817-1867). 

Von Franquemont is a well-known name within the Batik community. In literature (1) it is written that she was the first Indo-European to run a Batik workshop around 1850 on Java, Indonesia. That she was locally known under the name ‘Prankemon’ and famous for her use of a green dye.

Several Batiks from collections worldwide are attributed to Von Franquemont, attributed as in thought to be made by her or made in her Batik workshop. Von Franquemont did not sign her Batiks and almost all attributions were made decades after her death in 1867.

To re-tell the history of the (Indo-)European influence on Batik, I use the story about, and Batiks attributed to Carolina Josephina von Franquemont as a starting point. I started mapping out what is actually the Dutch, European and Indo-European influence on Javanese Batik. How is it described in literature1, what sources are there, who wrote what, when and why?

Indo-European influence is usually linked to Carolina Josephina von Franquemont. But can this influence truly be traced back to one individual? What other factors have had a role in this development? 

European interest in Batik

In the 19th century the interest for Batik in Europe grew. Museums started buying Batiks, Batiks were shown during Colonial Exhibitions and people, mostly white Dutch men, started researching Batik. 

The first to write about Carolina Josephina von Franquemont was Gerret Pieter Rouffaer (1860-1928). In his book ‘De Batik-kunst van Nederlandsch-Indië en haar geschiedenis’ published in 1914 Rouffaer writes in more detail about Von Franquemont. This book is still seen today as an important source for information on Batik. His writing on, and the Batiks he attributed to Von Franquemont, start a century long fascination for Von Franquemont.

Other researchers and conservators such as Tropenmuseum conservators Johanna Pape-van Steenacker (1901-1978), Rita Bolland (1919-2006), Itie van Hout and Daan van Dartel have added to this information over time. In the book ‘Splendid symbols, Textiles and traditions from Indonesia’ by Dr. Mattiebelle Gittinger, published in 1979 Von Franquemonts alleged death is described for the first time. “The secrets of this dye (…) perished with the woman herself in an earthquake in June 1867”.  

Over time the earthquake turned into a volcanic eruption, and this version of the story about her death has been repeated till today.

When I started my research the first thing I started looking for was information on her death and the possible location of her Batikworkshop. On a blog about Indo-European family trees, a newspaper message was shared. The author of the blog, Roel de Neve, did not realise what Batik history he had uncovered; “Today, after a long sickbed, Miss C. J. Von Franquemont, our beloved sister, passed away”. The obituary, sent in by her brother, confirmed Von Franquemont was not swept away by an earthquake, nor by a Volcanic eruption, but that she had passed away after a long sickbed. For Modemuze I wrote a post about this with the title ‘Verzwolgen en verdwenen: de batik erfenis van Franquemont’. This blogpost marked the start of my ongoing research. 

Batik Belanda

In 1993 the book ‘Batik Belanda’ by Harmen Veldhuisen (1943-2020) was published. In his book he describes a specific style within Batik which was according, to Veldhuisen, made by and for European and Indo-European women in the former Dutch East Indies. Von Franquemont is put in the book as the starter of this trend as the so-called ‘Mother of Batik Belanda’.

I got fascinated by this history. In Europe we almost always mention these ‘Indo-European Batiks’ first, while this history is often just a footnote in Indonesia and most Batikmakers never even heard of it. The book ‘Batik Belanda’ was published also in Bahasa Indonesia. For most Indonesians the book is the first time they learn about these European influenced Batiks. A large part of the Veldhuisen Batik collection ended up in the Tropenmuseum, the other part went to Danar Hadi, the private Batikmuseum in Solo on Java. A special room in the museum is dedicated to ‘Batik Belanda’. 

Veldhuisen coined the term ‘Batik Belanda’, but actually this term for Batiks was not use in the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.

The growing interest in Europe for Batik in the 19th century, was not just because they thought it was beautiful, they thought Batik was an interesting business opportunity. When Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826) described the Batik technique in his book ‘The History of Java’, published in 1817, Raffles did this because he thought it would be a good idea to make imitations. These imitations would be made in England and then shipped to Asia to be sold there. Other cotton-printing compagnies in Europe started making these fake Batiks as well and shipped them to SouthEast Asia. 

From the 1850’s onwards imitation Batiks were made in the Netherlands, Switzerland, France and England. These imitations from Europe or fake Batik, became known as Batik Belanda.

The imitation Batiks were made partly by machines and partly by hand. The machines had copper rolls that would print a motif on the cloth using a kind of resin. The blue was dyed in a colour bath and other colours were added with block printing.

In response to these cheaper fake Batiks, the Batik Cap industry on Java grew throughout the mid-19th century. Batik Cap was faster to produce than Batik Tulis. It was therefor also cheaper.

Batik Cap was great for competing with the imitations from Europe. The imitations were cheap, but people on Java preferred real Batik. They would buy Batik Cap, or save money to buy Batik Tulis. The European cotton-printers were baffled that their cheap mass produced imitations would not sell. It was actually the earliest form of fast fashion and it was not very successful.

Samuel Cornelis Jan Willem van Musschenbroek (1827-1883) writes in 1878 about imitations the following: “But, keep in mind, always as imitation (Batik tiron), or Batik welondå, Dutch Batik, a Batik ‘of its own kind’. Never did Javanese people see the imitation for (real) Javanese Batik”

For the platform Things That Talk run by research associate Fresco Sam-Sin, I made a page, a zone, within the website to share more on one of the Dutch cotton-printing compagnies, De Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij LKM). In the zone ‘Fabric(s) of Leiden’ students unravel the stories behind objects from collections  like the Museum Volkenkunde and Wereldmuseum to uncover the history and legacy of the LKM.

Provenance

Next to literature (1) research, I started working out the provenance of all Batiks attributed, at one point in time, to Von Franquemont within the Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen (NMvW) and the Wereldmuseum.

In this process I found pieces that were attributed to her, but were never used in publications, also some had not been photographed yet or only had partial pictures. So new photos were taken for the NMvW Museum System (TMS) database of all Batiks I looked at.

An essay on the Provenance of the Prankemon sarongs while be published later this year, hopefully in June, in the publication Provenance #4 by NMvW/Wereldmuseum

With all the research I did on Batiks attributed to Von Franquemont, I noticed how important it is to know the wearer. Batiks in museum collections have often limited provenance, especially if it is bought from a collector. Not always is written down if the person who donated the Batiks actually wore the Batiks themselves, but the family tree can sometimes provide some insights on to whom the Batiks belonged. If a family member did live in the former Dutch East Indies, it could be that the Batiks might have been worn by them. So with little information you can sometimes still find out a lot. Extensive collections have been kept in the Netherlands, privately and in museum-collections. These kept Batik-collections can give us new interesting insights and different angles on how to share this history.

Already from looking at a Batik you can often tell if it was worn or not. Many of the pieces in the Dutch collections were specifically collected for the museum and thus were never worn. 

So I always get extra excited if a piece has been worn, because worn pieces can tell us more than the unworn ones. Markers for Batiks being worn are that the sarongs are sown together or were sown together, have a faded colour and sometimes even mended parts.

During The Association of Dress Historians Annual New Research Conference 2022 I shared my current research that is focussed more on the wearer, especially on ladies that were of European descent, who dressed in Batik sarongs themselves, during colonial times in Indonesia. For this presentation I focussed on 41 Batiks from the Tropenmuseum collection, TM-2899-1 - TM-2899-41, that were donated by Jonkvrouwe Anna Cecile Aurélie Jeanne Clifford (1884-1960), Jonkvrouwe as in damsel. Hence the title ‘A Batik collection fit for a Lady’. Daan van Dartel, my research advisor & Curator of Fashion at the Tropenmuseum already published on Lily, as she was called for short, in the booklet ‘Collectors Collected’. 

Lily’s donation is an unusual wardrobe for a lady whom apparently had never been to Indonesia herself. The Batiks most likely belonged to her mother, Theodora Adriana Lammers van Toorenburg, who was born in 1852 in the former Dutch East Indies. This collection provides us with interesting insights into what was worn by whom and how the wearer can provide us with provenance that is often overlooked in Batik-research. 

I will turn this presentation into an article for The journal of Dress History.  In Dutch a shorter article by me about this was already published in the magazine Batik! 

Prankemon Green

Next to the provenance, I am working on an analysis of the dyes used in the Von Franquemont Batiks. According to Rouffaer she was famous for her natural and colourfast green. However the Batiks have never been examined to determine what specific dye was actually used.

Together with Art Proaño Gaibor of Rijksdienst van Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE) we made a plan to examine the dyes. Nowadays with a very small sample research can be done on the type of dye, natural or synthetic, what materials were used to recreate the dye or if mordants were used. 

I selected 5 Batiks that had the best provenance. Not that we know for certain these were made by Von Franquemont, this cannot be said of any Batiks I looked at. But these 5 Batiks had a clear date of entering the collection and from which person the donation came. From 5 Batiks we took samples of each colour. A sample is just 2 mm of one thread. As a little premiere I can share that all dyes in the 5 Batiks are made from natural materials. Although all 5 Batiks were attributed to Von Franquemont at one point in time, all 5 are dyed differently, which tells us that they seem to be from 5 different workshops. We are working out the differences between the dyes in a report that will be publicly available soon.

Future of Batik

When it comes down to re-telling the history of the (Indo-)European influence on Batik there is still much to explore.

For the current display showing Batiks with an ‘Indo-European influence’ at the Wereldmuseum Rotterdam that opened in 2020, I advised for the selection of Batiks. I also wrote a three part article on these Batiks for the magazine ‘Tribale Kunst’. It was later published in a shorter English version in the Textile Asia Journal.

If I look at this display now, I think we might show Batiks from the past differently in the future. All these Batiks have an interesting story to tell, but by grouping them in this way, we loose part of the story, specifically the Asian side of the story. The focus is now often on facts that cannot be checked nor proven, while the new uncovered data isn’t used, yet. I hope that my re-telling of this history provides us with more interesting, but above all more correct, layered stories.

Detail of Batik bedcover donated by a niece of Von Franquemont

WM-26938, collection Wereldmuseum Rotterdam

1) Literature examples in which Carolina Josephina von Franquemont is mentioned, aside from the books mentioned in this blogpost:

‘Batikken’ in the Encyclopedie van Nederlandsch-Indië (1917) Gerret Pieter Rouffaer

‘Das Batiken, eine Blüte indonesischen Kunstlebens’ (1926) J.A. Loebèr

‘Batiks from Java, The refined beauty of an ancient Craft’ (1960) Rita Bolland, Dr. J. H. Jager Gerlings and L. Langewis, Tropenmuseum

Catalog ‘Fabric of Enchantment, batik from the North coast of Java’ (1997) Inger McCabe Elliot, Rens Heringa and Harmen Veldhuisen, LACMA

‘Building on Batik: The Globalization of a Craft Community’ (2000) Michael Hitchcock

‘Batik, Drawn in wax, 200 years of batik art from Indonesia in the Tropenmuseum collection’ (2001), Itie van Hout, KIT Publishers

‘Batik: Design, Style & History’ (2004) Fiona Kerlogue

‘Batik Design’ (2004) Pepin van Roojen

‘Glory of Batik, The Danar Hadi Collection’ (2011) J. Achjadi

Catalog ‘Batik Pesisir, An Indonesian Heritage, Collection of Hartono Sumarsono’ (2012) Helen Ishwara

‘Batik: From the Courts of Java and Sumatra’ (2014) Rudolf Smend

Catalog ‘Asian art and Dutch taste’ (2014) Jan Veenendaal, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag

Catalog ‘Sarong Kebaya, Peranakan Fashion in an interconnected World, 1500-1950’ (2015), Peter Lee, ACM

Catalog 'A Royal Treasure, the Javanese Batik collection of King Chulalongkorn of Siam' (2019) Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles in Bangkok, Thailand

Catalog ‘Batik, Traces through time, Batik collections in the National Museum’ (2021) Fiona Kerlogue, National Museum, Prague, Czech republic

2) Indo, from Indo-European, is written between brackets in my research title because the influence is not always Indo-European, but more often directly European. To include both, Indo-European and European in my title, I choose to write it as ‘(Indo-)European’

Author

Sabine Bolk, artist & Batik researcher. Blogger for the blog ’The journey to Batik’ and Modemuze. Research Associate at the Research Center for Material Culture in Leiden from 2019-2021. Currently working on new research with the focus on the wearer.

Pukul Terus

While the world was mostly still standing still, the fast life returned to the Netherlands, and for me. Juggling multiple projects while struggling with my health, left me little time to update my blog. Some projects I spend months on behind the scene, were yet again postponed, and new projects got even bigger. I am very happy that I can spend time, in these still difficult times, being busy with Batik!

Yesterday we celebrated already the 12th Hari Batik and my birthday, 37 already. Selamat Hari Batik! These passed months I fulfilled many of my dreams and started several projects that I wish to do for a long time already. So time for a little overview of what I have been working on, where to read more, follow, join etcetera! Pukul terus, much exciting Batik stuff to share, Ayo!

Batikworkshops

 

Batikworkshop for All You Can Art Summerschool students at Kunsthal Rotterdam,

 August 2021 

After the very nice batikworkshop I gave hosted at the studio of Guave in Januari 2020, all other workshops got cancelled for the rest of 2020 and beginning of 2021. I didn't want to give workshops were people had to sit 1,5 meter apart. Also because for making Batik it is pretty unpractical and it should be above all fun. Feeling free to share stories and look at each-others creations. So I waited till it improved enough in the Netherlands. When artists Pris Roos and Liesbeth Labeur asked me if I wanted to give workshops for the All You Can Art Summerschool at the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, it was the right time to start again. It was exciting, do I still know how to give a workshop even? The students welcomed me with open arms and were so eager to learn all about Batik. It was a great experience being in this Art explosion that 'All You Can Art' is, teaching again and being asked so many times by visitors of the museum if they could join. Sooo had to say no a lot, hehe, but hopefully in the near future we can invite everyone to join in to learn about Batik.

Batikworkshop for All You Can Art Summerschool students at Kunsthal Rotterdam, 

 August 2021

Batikworkshop for cast 'Lichter dan ik', photo by Myrthe Groot, September 2021

Another cool Batikworkshop I was asked to give was for the cast of the theaterplay, based on the book, 'Lichter dan ik'. My batik ladies of Guave made amazing costumes for this theatershow, sooo a must-see! Guave invited me to teach the cast some more on Batik. Between their rehearsal I gave a short talk and let them try out applying the hot was with a canting onto cotton. It was a quick intro, but it was so wonderful that they wanted to dive into this topic more to make sure the Batik references in their play are done correctly. 'Lichter dan ik' will be in theaters 8 October, so get your tickets now!

I hope to schedule new dates for Batikworkshops end of the year, check my website for announcements!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Korthals Stuurman (@korthalsstuurmantheater)

 

Cooking out the Batiks made by the Summerschool students at home

Research

Me & Art selecting the tiny thread of which the sample can be taken, 

Photo by Paul Romijn/NMvW, July 2021

Since the start of my research, already 4 years ago, one wish was to find out what is actually the green Batikentrepreneur Carolina Josephina von Franquemont is famous for? 

The colourfast natural dye green was first mentioned by G.P. Rouffaer, he also attributes in catalogs Batiks to Von Franquemont because of their typical ‘Prankemon Green’. He calls it a ‘seagreen’, but the shades of green vary from piece to piece ~ either because the green wasn’t that colourfast after all, or more likely, not all are by the same Batikworkshop.

As a Research Associate at RCMC I could dive into all the Batiks with green attributed to Von F. Or should I say all Batik with green that got attributed to her at one point in time in the NMvW & Wereldmuseum collection. Whether it is a dark green, more blueish green or almost a patrol blue, all somewhere in time had a (now digital) note attached that the green could be ‘Prankemon green'.

Although more and more Batiks over time got attributed to Von Franquemont, the green was never examined to find out what is was actually made of. With todays technology even a small part of a thread can provide us with knowledge on the ingredients used, natural or synthetic, even on mordants and other materials. After a year of getting it approved internal, 5 selected Batiks are being examined by Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed.

RCE experts Art Proaño Gaibor & Elsemieke van Rietschoten came to the Tropenmuseum in July to take the samples. We will be working on putting on paper what the results can tell on the dyes and how we can use this information to better date these Batiks. Sooo hopefully soon more on this!

RCE experts Art Proaño Gaibor & Elsemieke van Rietschoten examining the Batik, July 2021

RCE experts Art Proaño Gaibor taking a tiny sample from the Nutmeg batik, July 2021

Starting our TTT project at the Textielmuseum library, July 2021

While continuing with my RCMC research, I also started a researchproject together with the amazing onlineplatform Things That Talk. Fresco Sam-Sin of Things That Talk is a fellow research associate at RCMC and when I heard about his onlineplatform I contacted him that tel him I would love to contribute a story to the page. 

The story became a Zone and the writing became guiding a team of students. With the title 'Fabric(s) of Leiden' me and my team are diving into the fascinating world of the Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij. The collections of the LKM are stored in many different locations spread over the Netherlands and I spend the last 4 years mapping them out. This Zone on TTT gives me the opportunity to share the amazing objects that have been kept and unravel the history of this company together with a team. 

We started our researchproject with a visit to the Textielmuseum in Tilburg. Jantiene van Elk welcomed us in the library of the museum, thank you, where we could see the books kept made by the LKM filled with recipes and samples, together with some wonderful pieces from the museumcollection.

Together with Phoebe, I also made a visit to the depot of Museum Volkenkunde to see the objects she selected for her story. 

It is so much fun to share my experience & love for this history with this new generation of cultural professionals and looking forward to the creating this Zone! 

Soon more, because the stories will be published on Things That Talk as soon as possible!

Phoebe looking at the objects at the library of the Textielmuseum, July 2021

Depot visit for the TTT project, August 2021

Collecting Stories

This years Hari Batik Batik Statement

While wrapping up my research for RCMC, as much as possible, because it is never finished of course, I am working on and exploring new stories I would like to research. 

It is connected to the research I have been doing, of course, and it will be a slow process, for sure, but I have been meeting with several people, planning interviews and hope I can dive into it more next year.

I can share that my wish is to explore more on the batikmakers at the end of the 19th century, not just on Java, but also in the Netherlands. There are some interesting (colonial) connections and it is a time-period that I find fascinating.  

This year my Hari Batik Batik Statement, here above, was inspired by Loïe Fuller, best known for her Serpentine Dance. I got inspired after seeing all the artists interpretations made of her at the wonderful Art Nouveau exhibition at Allard Pierson Museum. There they also show the famous film from the 1890’s in which you see Fuller twirling around with her meters of silk creating marvellous shapes. In the real performances the colours would change using lights, in the film the colours are coloured in. 

The exhibition shows next to these works about Fuller also some pieces made using Batik. In the Dutch Art Nouveau movement, De Nieuwe Kunst, Batik was a populair technique for making fabrics for furniture & decorative objects. Also many women active in this movement used this technique. Not much is known about these ladies & my wish is to dive into these stories and retell them soon.

The orginal cantings Mary used the make Batik Tulis with, 

both in the Netherlands and in East-Java. 

Kept in a little box, a dream to hold

One of stories is that of Mary Mathilda Constancia Herrmann. In July I was welcomed by the granddaughter of Mary Mathilda Constancia Herrmann, also named Mary. I saw the Batiks made by her grandmother a month before in real life and when reading the notes the donator gave with the Batiks I realized there was more that had not been written down yet. I reached out to Mary, the granddaughter, and was invited to her home to get to meet Mary, her grandmother.

Granddaughter Mary explained she gathered a lot of information before donating the Batiks to the Tropenmuseum, planning to make a book on her grandmother but never got that far. She also traced every Batik on tracing paper, including a Batik that wasn’t donated to the museum, but is with her nephew. A wonderful surprise, the Batik includes a drawing of the place where grandma Mary’s father grew up, the German city Sagan.

The life of ‘Oma’ Mary after making the Indigo coloured Batiks is as fascinating as her years spent in the former Dutch East Indies. Her granddaughter Mary lived with her oma for a while, so she heard the stories directly and still remembers a lot. Also there is loads of documentation kept. 

I made the appointment for a return visit so I can make a fuller overview of Oma Mary’s stories & work together on making sure this history is kept for future generations. To be continued.

Batik by Mary Mathilda Constancia Herrmann traced by Mary with notes

Storytelling

Shishani & Sisterhood at PAARD in Den Haag, 29 September 2021

Wrote about the 'Shishani & Sisterhood' show here before. Months after our show was streamed we just had our first live performance this past Wednesday at popstage PAARD in Den Haag (NL). Amazing experience and even greater we have another show next Saturday on 9 October!

A live stream from De Melkweg for the SIPA festival. Tune in on Sipa Youtube page around 2 pm Dutch time / 18pm Indonesian Time. Don't miss it! 

Shishani & Sisterhood is a show by & with:

Shishani 

Tieka Masfar 

Sabine Bolk 

Jaimie van Hek 

Tiga Batang Rumah 

Asih Sungkono

Wulan Dumatubum

Eveline Carels

Sandra Sahupala 

Shishani & Sisterhood rehearsal 

My article ‘Batik, tien jaar immaterieel erfgoed van Indonesië’ got published in July. 

I wrote this article in April 2019 on Batik being the intangible heritage of Indonesia since 2009. I wrote it just months before I went to Indonesia in October 2019 to join the celebrations on Batik being 10 years Unesco intangible heritage of Indonesia . In my article I focus on how Batik is being treated & threatened, the good & the bad and my journey through all this. Which fitted perfect with the theme ‘Revival of textile’ the Textielcommissie chose for their 2019 symposium & publication.

Although the article feels a little old to me { I mean so much has happened since} but still it is a dream come through to have an article in a publication of Textielcommissie. 

My first international published article in English is out now!! 

With the great title, suggested by my research supervisor Francine Brinkgreve, ‘Interpreting Batik from the Van Rijckevorsel Collection’. The article is a shorter version of the three articles I wrote before in Dutch on the Dr. Elie van Rijckevorsel collection at the Wereldmuseum in Rotterdam (NL). The article can be read in the September issue of the Textiles Asia Journal. You can order a copy through www.textilesasia.com. Limited copies available. 

Last but certainly not least, we just launched the Open Call for a great translation-mapping-immigration-project initiated by artist Pris Roos who teamed up with me and heritage expert Yulia Pattopang. 

Project Batik X Liliawati is a project in which we translate a book on Batik with the help of the Indonesian speaking community of the Netherlands. The results will be published here on the Journey to Batik, turning my blog into the batik-researchcenter-database I wanted to create for a while now. 

But first we are looking for translators. 

For more info, read the open call in Dutch here below:

Project Batik X Liliawati is een project gestart vanuit een zoektocht naar wie en waar de Bahasa Indonesia sprekende mensen in Nederland zijn en vandaan komen EN de liefde voor batik, het klederdracht van nationaal erfgoed. Het project is in samenwerking met Pris Roos (kunstenaar), Yulia Pattopang (schrijver en historicus) en Sabine Bolk (batikonderzoeker). Het is begonnen met als doel om het verhaal te vertellen en te onthullen wie en waar wij vandaan komen door middel van het vertalen van het boek “Seni Kerajinan : Batik Indonesia” geschreven door S.K. Sewan Susanto S. Tekst in 1973.

Het is begonnen bij maker Pris Roos geboren in Nederland, de dochter van Indonesische immigranten geboren in Bogor, Indonesië die naar Nederland in de jaren ’70 zijn gekomen met het doel om een beter bestaan te hebben. Haar familie heeft dat gedaan door een toko te starten en zij is van jongs af aan betrokken geweest in en rondom de toko. Haar kunstpraktijk is geïnspireerd van de toko, het eten, de mensen die er komen en vooral de Indonesische cultuur. De moeder van Pris Roos heet trouwens officieel Liliawati, maar veranderd in de westerse naam Berry zoals iedereen haar nu noemt. Dit project is vernoemd ter ere aan haar moeder en de Indonesische cultuur.

Dit handboek “Seni Kerajinan : Batik Indonesia”  is geschreven in Bahasa Indonesia in 1973 en gaat over de geschiedenis en ontwikkeling van het ambacht batik in Indonesië per regio. Wij voelden ons rijk toen we dit boek ontdekten, maar er is geen vertaling van het boek en in plaats van het te laten vertalen door één vertaler, willen wij het boek ontrafelen en vertalen samen met u en 199 andere Bahasa Indonesia sprekende mensen. Bahasa Indonesia is de officiële taal die men op school leert, maar wij zijn ook ervan bewust dat verschillende groepen nog streektalen of dialecten spreken. Wij vragen echter iedereen om mee te doen die Indonesisch spreken en schrijven. U gaat een klein gedeelte (een paar bladzijden) van het boek vertalen met de Bahasa Indonesia waarmee u opgegroeid bent. Samen met de vertaling vragen wij ook van elk persoon om een vragenlijst in te vullen over hun herkomst, taal en bezit van batik.

Indonesië bestaat uit verschillende eilanden, provinciën en culturen. De Javaanse cultuur is voor velen in Nederland het meest bekende cultuur uit Indonesië, maar er zijn talloze andere regio's met mooie culturen zoals Sulawesi, de Molukken en West-Papua die een sterke connectie met Nederland hebben. Maar de immigranten van het Indonesisch archipel delen samen nog de Indonesische taal en het dragen van batik. 

Project Batik X Liliawati is op zoek naar: 

- Mensen van Indische, Molukse en Papuaanse afkomst die Bahasa Indonesia spreken en lezen.  

- Indonesiërs, Molukkers en Papuanen die op dit moment in Nederland wonen.

- Indonesisch Nederlanders. De tweede en derde generaties van Indonesische migranten die in Nederland zijn geboren maar spreken thuis nog regelmatig Bahasa Indonesia

Hoe doet u mee?

Meld u aan via batikboek@gmail.com met uw adresgegevens, zodat wij het vertaalpakket naar u kan sturen. Portokosten worden door ons vergoed. 

Thanks everyone for supporting my journey to Batik, here on my blog, online and in person. I feel so grateful I can spend my time working with, on, about Batik! Who would have thought I would be still busy with Batik and so busy with Batik, lucky me. 

Till the next post!