Batik making by Bryony Taylor
As soon as I heard the word batik in the lecture, it instantly grabbed my attention. Wow, there's a connection between Indonesian and Aboriginal art and it really brought back some memories from back home and those days in primary school when we had a school excursion to a batik making place. We got to see how batik was made; using stamps or a pen-like instrument called canting to apply the wax on fabric, then dipping it into colourful dyes and washing it to reveal the beautiful designs. I can still remember the rich smell of the wax and how hot it was in the factory. But was most most memorable I think was having the opportunity in the end to make our own "batik" designs, which mine was of course a picture of Winnie the Pooh and Piglet having a cup of tea together. While mine is far from exemplifying the exquisite patterns and intricacy of traditional Javanese batik designs, it can be truly said that batik making remains an important part of Indonesian culture until today. Whether it's the batik designs printed on clothes, sarongs or framed artwork, these designs I think exemplify the essence of our traditional culture. Even so, batik in Indonesia has also changed and transformed over time in attempts to develop and to revive its significance in the modern environment. Today, when you look around Jakarta, you can see these variety of designs available, for more modern designs to traditional ones, colours and also applications. So hearing about how Aboriginal people have also created batik, I was definitely intrigued to see how they have treated batik and how their designs were like.
After looking around the Internet and reading some books, I actually found some interesting facts about batik and the Aboriginal culture. While it was said that in the past, Aboriginal people have had contact with Indonesian people from Makassar, it was not until the early 1970s that batik was introduced to Aboriginal people. This was achieved through cultural exchange programs where several Aboriginal women have visited Indonesia and brought back and shared their newly acquired skills within their community. Currently, this wax-resisting technique is most popular in the regions of Ernabella, Utopia, Fregon, Yuendumu and Kintore:
Batik specialized regions
from Ryan, Judith et al. Across the desert: Aboriginal batik from Central Australia. Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria, 2008.
While batik have flourished within these communities, it remains to be an area of art-making dominated by women. It is perceived to many Aboriginal women as "a means to gain economic independence as well as skills in small business management, literacy and book-keeping". (1) Again, we see just how important art is for Aboriginal people.
Moving on from the facts, here are a few examples I found of both Aboriginal and Indonesian batik.
Indonesian batik
Indonesian batik patterns from Hout, I. C. van. Batik: drawn in wax: 200 years of batik art from Indonesia in the Tropenmuseum collection. Amsterdam: Royal Tropical Institute, 2001.
Details of batiks from Kedungwuni and Pekalongan. (Tropenmuseum collection numbers 5663-200) from Hout, I. C. van. Batik: drawn in wax: 200 years of batik art from Indonesia in the Tropenmuseum collection. Amsterdam: Royal Tropical Institute, 2001.
Aboriginal Batik
Ernabella
Fregon
Matjangka (Nyukana) Norris, Snakes and spinifex, 1995, batik on cotton.
Utopia
Emily Kan Kngwarray, Trousers, 1980, batik on silk, cotton thread, elastic.
Left. Emily Kan Kngwarray, Kam (Pencil yam seed) 1988, batik on silk. Right. Violet Petyarr, Anwerlarr (Pencil Yam), 1987, batik on silk.
Yuendumu
Left. Neville Japangardi Poulson, Janganpa Jukurrpa (Marsupial mouse Dreaming), 1986, batik on cotton. Right. Peggy Napurrla Poulson, Yarla Jukurrpa (Bush yam Dreaming), 1986, batik on cotton.
Kintore
Wintjiya Napaltjarri, Untitled, 1994, batik on cotton.
Looking at the diversity of styles, colours and batik designs from these two different cultures, it's amazing too see just how one form of art-making can be interpreted in many different ways. You can really see that the batik from Indonesia and Aboriginal communities are inspired differently by their own unique culture, where in the Aboriginal batik it derives back from their beliefs and the land. What is even more interesting is how each region also has a slightly different style - while Ernabella designs have more clean, flowing patterns, the Kintore region batik are more speckled, layered and have more texture in them. Nevertheless, as The Oxford Companionship to Aboriginal Art & Culture suggests, there are also many similarities between Indonesian and Aboriginal batik which is believed to originate from the shared technique rather than the influence of Javanese batik designs on Aboriginal design. However, I think when cultural exchange does happen and when a similar technique is used, overlaps will happen despite any reason. All in all, I think looking and comparing the batik designs from Aboriginal communities and Indonesia was very interesting. While it may be an adopted art-making technique, Aboriginal women have truly shown us that they have made it their own - they have infused it with their own culture, style, inspirations and with their own stories - to create an art-form unique to the Aboriginal culture.
References for today:
Ryan, Judith et al. Across the desert: Aboriginal batik from Central Australia. Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria, 2008.
Kleinert, Sylvia, and Margo Neale. The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2000.
*Aboriginal batik images from Ryan, Judith et al. Across the desert: Aboriginal batik from Central Australia. Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria, 2008 unless specified.
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