Doyenne of dying art of batik<\/p>\n
Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
Salasatun Djogo Pertiwi will obviously not use old age as an
\nexcuse to retire from painting batik.<\/p>\n
At 93, Salasatun is just as energetic as ever and has never
\neven thought of stopping making batik, her lifetime profession
\nand passion. At her home in Pajimatan village, Imogiri district,
\nshe paints on.<\/p>\n
Her fragile physique is probably her biggest handicap as she
\nis forced to paint on a chair instead of the low stools
\ntraditionally used by batik artists.<\/p>\n
Despite her age she has retained her remarkable senses. She
\nwears no glasses and her wrinkled fingers move nimbly, drawing
\nvarious motifs on white cotton cloth.<\/p>\n
Neither does she find it difficult to work with the tiny point
\nof the canting, a small dipper used to apply boiling wax on cloth
\nduring the batik process.<\/p>\n
And most amazing of all is that, unlike other batik artists in
\ngeneral, she never needs preliminary sketches for the motifs she
\nimprints on the cloth -- a tradition that is literally a dying
\nart.<\/p>\n
Most traditional batik painters usually apply a motif by
\nsimply following a pattern already drawn on a cloth, instead of
\non a completely blank sheet of cloth.<\/p>\n
At a glance, the batik she makes with the hot wax and canting
\nlook the same but in fact each has a subtle difference.<\/p>\n
And she does so with ease. It seems that all the motifs just
\nflow from the canting.<\/p>\n
\"I can make up to five sheets of batik cloth in half a day
\nwhen I feel fine,\" said Salasatun, adding that she mostly did the
\nbatik painting in the morning and in the afternoon.<\/p>\n
For her dedication to the art of batik, Salasatun won the 1992
\nUpakarti Award from the central government.<\/p>\n
In an interview with The Jakarta Post when she participated in
\na recent batik exhibition held at her village, she said she had
\nlost count of the number of motifs she had created since she
\nbegan painting batik at just 13 years of age.<\/p>\n
Salasatun's motifs are inspired by various objects she finds
\nin her neighborhood: Trees, animals, flowers and at other
\ntimes, existing batik motifs, mostly classic Surakarta or
\nYogyakarta styles.<\/p>\n
One her favorite motifs is the one she calls \"Irian motif\",
\nwhich takes its inspiration from leaves. She said the name of the
\ncreation had nothing to do with the name of Indonesia's eastern-
\nmost province, Irian Jaya (Papua).<\/p>\n
\"It just came out of my mouth. I did not prepare a name when a
\ncustomer asked me what I called the particular motif, so I just
\nsaid 'Irian' spontaneously,\" she said.<\/p>\n
The most difficult motif to make in batik making, according to
\nSalasatun, is the Sekar Jagad. So difficult is the motif that it
\ncan take her up to three days to finish a single sheet.<\/p>\n
Salasatun sells her batiks for between Rp 350,000 and Rp
\n500,000 per piece, or about the average price charged by
\ntraditional batik makers in the region.<\/p>\n
Imogiri has long been known as the center of traditional batik
\nmaking. Girirejo alone is home to about 200 traditional batik
\nmakers. Many batik traders in Yogyakarta and other major regions
\nin the country, including Jakarta and Bali, buy their merchandise
\nhere.<\/p>\n
Salasatun said she could make Rp 100,000 per piece. She shares
\nthe profits with her marketing assistants.<\/p>\n
When business is good, she said she could earn a gross profit
\nof up to Rp 20 million per day. On a bad day, she can make
\nnothing.<\/p>\n
What makes her different from other batik makers in her
\nvillage is probably the way she manages the money. No matter how
\nmuch money she gets, she never keeps it in cash or deposits it in
\nthe bank. She always reinvests most of the money to buy raw
\nmaterials.<\/p>\n
That explains why 3,000 pieces of batik are crammed into her
\nhome at present.<\/p>\n
\"I just don't like to keep cash. Being broke is not a problem
\nfor me. But stop making batik? I can't even think of it,\" she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
For Salasatun, making batik is just as important as breathing.<\/p>\n
The widow of a keeper of the Imogiri Royal Cemetery used by
\nthe Yogyakarta Palace families, Salasatun, who is also the mother
\nof five, the grandmother of 18 and the great grandmother of five,
\ncannot bare to see a single day pass without making batik.<\/p>",
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