Photo Essay of Indonesian Batik

Once a month, the Textile Museum Jakarta held a batik exhibition, alternately from a number of regions in Indonesia. The goal is to introduce batik to the public.

 

 

A woman saw batik exhibition at the Textile Museum Jakarta on October 13, 2011. Batik is one of the original cloths from Indonesia. The UNESCO designated Indonesian batik as a Materpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on 

October 2, 2009.

Discussion about Batik Tuban at the Textile Museum Jakarta, on October 13, 2011. Tuban in East Java is one of the batik centers in Indonesia. Batik from Tuban called batik gedhog since produced from woven fabrics gedhog, the term for traditional loom in Tuban.

An artisan was spinning yarn from cotton. The batik artisans from Tuban create their own fabrics they use for batik material.

An batik artisan was applying melted wax over the cloth uses canting in creating batik, named “batik tulis” (tulis means write). Canting, sometimes called a wax pen, is a small thin wall spouted copper container that is connected to a short bamboo handle. The next step in create batik is dye the cloth. Batik is a process uses manual wax-resist dyeing technique. There are at least need two months to create around two meters length used for “kain panjang” or “sarong” in traditional dress. Better quality batik may be waxed utilizing canting.

Two mans were using “cap” (pronounced chop) or copper stamp for create batik, named batik cap. Men usually handle the application of wax using cap. The usage of “cap”, as opposed to canting, to apply the wax has reduced the amount of time to make a cloth. There are at least need two hours to create around two meters length used for “kain panjang” or “sarong” in traditional dress. 

True batik, both “batik tulis” and “batik cap”, are reversible, as the pattern should be identical on both sides. Photo above is an example of blouse made from “batik cap”.

The example of traditional batik’s design from Yogyakarta, named Batik Kraton (Kraton means palace). Javanese traditional batik’ design, especially from Yogyakarta and Solo, has notable meanings rooted to the Javanese conceptualization of the universe.

Batik which was once a symbol of feudalism Java where there are batik to the king and his family, well for the average person batik. Now, batik used as a material to clothe the human body and become very popular folk clothes, both men and women.

A woman was selecting batik sold at a mall in Serpong, Tangerang, Banten (west of Jakarta). Almost all the mall in Indonesia sold batik. Batik became very popular in the community, especially since the UNESCO designated Indonesian batik as a Materpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on October 2, 2009.

Three Kompas’s front officer was wearing batik uniforms. Some offices in Indonesia have batik uniforms for their employees and the government offices have called on their employees to wear batik at once a week. To celebrate batik, the Indonesian government has called on all Indonesians to wear batik on Oct 2.