On Saturday 28 September I will be giving my first talk to launch the current researchproject I have been working on. The talk hosted by Museum Tekstil is part of their program to celebrate Batik being 10 year UNESCO Intangible cultural heritage of Indonesia.
In my talk I will address some of my findings and what this means for the written history on Batik. The talk is also to invite the audience to share their thoughts on this topic. For me it is very important that as many stories and voices as possible get included in this research. The gap between the research on historical Batik and current makers of Batik is growing bigger every day. When I visited Java in 2016, I spend the 7 years before studying Batik by reading books, going to museums, talks and meeting experts in the field. When I was revisiting and meeting Batikmakers, I realised that what I have learned did not match the reality. Little things like how every maker has their own way of explaining the meaning of a motif, or how the history is passed on from Mother to Daughter doesn’t really get the attention it needs in the written history. There the focus is mostly on the Batik entrepreneurs, the Batik bosses, who maybe have been written into history but not necessarily made all the old Batiks we admire today in collections all over the world.
So for my talk the focus will be on what we can learn from the history of Batik and how we can use this to empower, inspire and secure the future of Batik.
Talk will be held at Museum Tekstil in Jakarta from 10h-11h. Seating is limited, so come on time. I will be also there for the opening on 24 September. Hope to see you there!