Batik Nyonyas and grandmothers blankets

This design was first done by Oeij Kok Sing, but made again by her daughter Jane Hendromartono, she included often tiny fish

First room in the exhibition ‘Batik Nyonyas’ highlighting batiks from the end of the 19th century, beginning 20th century made in Pekalongan

Build up of exhibition ‘TAMBAL’ at aNERDgallery

After a full week, I headed on 16 July to Singapore by bus for the weekend. Since I am making an small exhibition there that will open 22 August at aNERDgallery, I wanted to leave some of the stuff I already gathered & brought, there. Also to relax a little bit before going further and to finally see the Batik Nyonyas exhibition.

I arrived in after a quick busride and had a nice easy evening & morning. After some much needed social media updates, I headed out to aNERDgallery. Just to hang out and say hi. Also the artist Adel Ng was coming in to set-up the current exhibition, Tambal, inspired by the quilted blankets her grandmother made, the tambal motif in Batik & her own slow-fashion upcycle brand Muta Wear. She will be aNERDhost, while Tony is on Java, mostly with me. 

Adel Ng upcycle station at aNERDgallery 

Detail of quilted blanket of Adel Ng grandmother

In the early evening I headed to the Batik Nyonyas talk held at ACM, Modernity Unseen, The Free-Spirited Batiks of Nyonya

Oeij Soen King and Her Contemporaries from the North Coast of Java

I booked the bus a day earlier to catch this talk. When I found out the program, I knew I would be in my feelings. In my hurt feelings, but it was also very surprising!

The evening luckily also brought me to textile friends, which whom I had a nice dinner after with much to discuss on the talk & exhibition.

Peranakan Museum in Singapore

The fine mesh showing up on the photos,

 with a little creativity I was able to get okay photos

Next day I finally got to see the exhibition ‘Batik Nyonyas’. Made 800+ photos, normally it would be 100 or so, let’s say I felt really inspired. But also made so many because how it is displayed behind a very fine mesh makes it difficult to take pictures. Deliberate or to protect it, unclear, but I was pretty determined to get details. Who knows when these will be on display again and if I ever get acces to them.

The exhibition tells the story of three generations of batikproducers in Pekalongan on Java in Indonesia, Nyonya Oeij Soen King, her daughter-in-law Nyonya Oeij Kok Sing, and her granddaughter Jane Hendromartono. The first generation started at the end of the 19th century, while the third and last work until 1980’s. The batiks and other objects in the exhibition were kept by the three daughters of the last one. These daughters also provided extra information & stories, which is also shown in a video interview with them. This extra layer, with stories on production, preserverende and clear provenance makes this exhibition pretty unique. How wonderful I get to chance to actual visit. 

One of the earlier organized talks, was with them too. A much watch the video on Youtube ‘Three Nyonyas and an Esteemed Collaborator: Family Memories of Batik Making in Pekalongan’

The three daughters

Old photographs of the batikworkshop shared in the video

The first generation brings some confusion. The sisters say all were made by their greatgrandmother Nyonya Oeij Soen King, but she didn’t sign and all are very different (sounds familiar..). The choice, or belief, to present this pieces all by her, makes for a difficult story to tell. Previously research has been done on the cotton, colour & dye use to determine if one maker could be identified (and now..?). In the catalog was mentioned: 

“A common assumption is that an individual batik workshop would stick to a consistent dyeing practice that differed from other workshops. This was purported in a study by Proaño Gaibor et al., the first technical study of batiks, which concluded that Franquemont's batiks originated from different workshops because of the different dyes identified. However, the present study has shown otherwise.

By including signed batiks of different makers in comparison to Oeij's, the results revealed a wide range of cotton fabric and different dyestuffs for the reds of all four batik makers, without showing a systematic relationship to the maker.” 

Attributed to the first generation, Oeij Soen King

Photo-album gifted to Jasper with enlarged photograph of the ‘jaarmarkt’ exhibition behind it

Snowwhite batik detail, Batik signed by ‘L.Metz’

But my research was based on the specific story that the green used by Von Franquemont was her own unique invention, and therefor we researched all the colours including the green to find out they were all dyed differently, apart from the green that was done all the same in a not secret or special way, but with the oldest dye method known to create green in batik... (read full report here link ) So let’s say their conclusion on our study being wrong, and in fact we conclude the same, is so odd.

During the talk I attended the night before, the researchers explained they could not prove the batiks were made by one person or workshop. (Yes..). And did not claim they were all from the same maker. They also shared they misidentify their secret colour red and a new version of the catalog will be made. Hopefully they will rewrite their conclusion too, I hope.

Display on introduction of synthetic dyes to the batik industry

From Nyonya Oeij Kok Sin's album, 1940s-1950s

Sarongs by Nyonya Oeij Kok Sing and Jane Hendromartono, 

above signed by Jane in 1967, 

sarong below stamped by Oeij Kok Sing, 9 september 1941

For me the main question is, why go through all this afford to present these 18 batiks from one workshop? Wouldn’t it raise more interesting findings if the questions are, were are these batiks from? What are all the differences & what are the similarities? Was she indeed a batikmaker, or could some be her wardrobe or was she perhaps a reseller? I wonder right away, are there marks of wear, or details to link it to other pieces with a clear provenance. 

Anyway, the first section of the exhibition had for me very wonderful signed batiks including one with Snowwhite. It also has an album I would love to get my hands on, a photo-album gifted to Jasper in 1923 to celebrate his annual fair activities. Peter Lee shared some images during his talk and luckily some were used enlarged in the exhibition. Fascinating!

Two hangings with a depiction of Mai Langfang, a Chinese Peking opera artist playing the role of Tiannu Sanhua doing the sleeve dance, left batik by Jane, right by Oeij Kok Sing

Batik by Jane Hendromartono from early 1950's

Batik left signed by J. Jans, 1900's, Batik right signed 'Nj. Oeij Kok Sing P.K.L.' and stamped

In the ‘Batik Nyonyas’ exhibition I connected most to the Batiks from the 19th century, probably because my research is focussed on this period in batik history, but felt another kind of strong connection to Jane Hendromartono story.

Sketch by Jane Hendromartono

Display of the cap items Jane Hendromartono produced

Batik by Jane Hendromartono with little fish detail

The story of Jane Hendromartono is probably the most detailed, since her daughters could re-tell, and certainly the most artistic. Jane experimented a lot, to keep up with fashion trends, market demands and her own interests. 

It was nice that in this part we really get to know the maker, with early drawings, a childhood dairy in Dutch(!!), all kind of business items like stationary, cards. Jane also started producing cap next to her Batik Tulis pieces. The little cap that says ‘100% batik tulis’ took me out, technically the batik tulis would be 99,99% Batik Tulis if this tiny cap is used.

If her grandmother did make the variety the museum is claiming, Jane is indeed a testament to that story. 

I especially liked the 70’s ready to wear section, with maxi skirts & belts, I want all! Especially the skirt in aquagreen!

The exhibition is an amazing celebration of these three generations and a reflection on the history they were part of. A must see, open till 31 August in Singapore!

Read more here on the exhibition: Interview with Peter Lee | “Batik Nyonyas: Three Generations of Art and Entrepreneurship" — Art of The Ancestors | 

Island Southeast Asia, Oceania, and Global Tribal Art News

Hafiz showing his newly bought newly made chintz, including wax resist

Hafiz at aNERDstore heading out with his storytelling stuff

Hafiz Rashid's talk at One Punngolo

On Saturday I enjoyed a talk by Hafiz Rashid at One Punggolo about batik used as a medium for storytelling. Hafiz who is always dressed for the part of historical, fairytale & legends storyteller gave a presentation on the telling on stories to the writing down of stories. How in early books the text are highlighting to read out-loud. He used batiks from his own collection to invite the audience to do some storytelling themselves. It was really interesting to hear how they interpreted the batiks.

Currently I am on Java, I will update my blog & social media whenever I can & wifi allows me ;) ~ thank you for following my journey to Batik

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!