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WASHINGTON: Batik is the traditional fabric art of Indonesia. The design on a piece of batik cloth often tells a story about Indonesia, its people and culture.
A collection of batiks that belonged to the late Ann Dunham – mother of United States' President Barack Obama – has been on tour this summer in the US and is on display at the Textile Museum in Washington.
Demonstrating the intricate art at the museum, batik maker Tri Asayani uses a small canting tool – a device similar to a pen – to apply wax to cloth. The wax can be applied many times with different dyes to create complex batik designs on cotton or silk fabric.
President Obama spent part of his childhood in Indonesia. During that time, his mother, who had married an Indonesian, was doing her doctorate research and had a hobby of collecting batiks.
His sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, explained why batiks were important to their mother.
"She wore batik almost every day and she had clothing made of batik to fit her dimensions, which were robust, and she would go and speak to the batik sellers and the batik makers and she became very much a part of their lives and incorporated their stories into her love of the craft," she said.
Textile Museum's research associate, Mattiebelle Gittinger, said: "Ann wasn't interested in artistic pieces – they were beyond her means – but she did know Javanese culture and she did collect pieces that were rich in cultural significance."
Traditional colours include indigo, dark brown and white, which represent the Hindu gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Some regions of Indonesia have their own unique batik patterns such as flowers, animals or people.
"White in the East was associated with pregnant women. Red in the South was associated with newlyweds. Both men and women would have worn a red shoulder cloth... and people who were very much older would have worn the blue type because it incorporates all of the colours of the cosmology," said Gittinger.
Admirers of Dunham's collection said her batiks demonstrate both her knowledge of the Javanese culture and her commitment to microfinance as one of her first jobs was to bring small loans to the batik makers of Indonesia.
- CNA/so
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