in 2022, for Tong Tong Fair in Den Haag (NL)
In 2022 as part of the Batik collaboration with Stichting Tong Tong, I made the exhibition ‘Batik maakt de man’ (Batik makes the man) together with Florine Koning, after a concept of Leslie Boon. It was shown during the Tong Tong Fair held from 1 till 11 September 2022.
Batik from Java, Indonesia is often associated with women, but it was and is worn by men throughout Southeast Asia as a sarong, as well as pants. These trousers called ‘slaapbroek’ (sleeping pants) by the Dutch were for a long time considered a colonial influence. We mostly knew them from photographs made at homes in the former Dutch East Indies, the name Indonesia had when it was colonised by the Dutch. Men, usually (Indo-)Europeans, would wear the trousers as a kind of sweatpants in which you could receive guests or make little trips in your free time.
To find out if it was in fact a European phenomenon in Asia, I did extensive archival research. Going through many digitised photographs, it turned out other groups in the former Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, did wear these Batik pants. The pants must have been very popular, because they were also marketed by European cotton printing compagnies. Imitation batiks for the ‘slaapbroek’ were made, printed and shipped to Southeast Asia.
Photos by Koen de Wit, Hans Kleijn and me
The Tong Tong Fair Festival was postponed several times due to the pandemic, which allowed me to search in many online archive to unravel the story of batik worn by men. My research started with the question, or statement by Leslie Boon, “The batik sleeping pants was an Indo-European invention worn strictly at home”. I soon found out the Batik pants could be also found outside of the house, worn by European men while going on a picknick or at work. I also started finding photos of other local men wearing the pants. During the pandemic I spend hours in online archives and whenever I spotted a patterned trouser on a black and white photo I would save it.
At the Tong Tong Fair we shared the first findings. What other questions they raise and that still need to be explored. But very happy that we could share this new perspective, or wider perspective on this history. We shared the development of batik worn by men from sarong to pants, and from pants to shirt was shown.
The Batik Island was made up as half a circle, designed by Sabrina Luthjens with on the outside the exhibition, allow the inside open for activities like batik consultations, meet&greet with different researchers, artists and students working with batik and more. The open structure of the exhibition made people walk right into the batik shop, small expo on what Batik is and I had a chest with many batikbooks. We were there daily from 10am till 10pm. Almost every day we had a special guest like batikmaker, researcher, recently graduated students working with batik and even a chef.