'Hot Wax' features shared cultures<\/p>\n
By Barbara Healy<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): \"Hot Wax, an Exhibition of Australian Aboriginal
\nand Indonesian Batik\", opened Friday at the Gedung Pameran Seni
\nRupa on Jl. Merdeka Timur 14, Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
As the title suggests, this event represents a significant
\nculmination of artistic talent and cross-cultural communication
\nthrough batik imagery.<\/p>\n
\"The exhibit marks the first time an Aboriginal language group
\nhas completed a batik project alongside other Australian and
\nIndonesian artists in preparation for a specific exhibition such
\nas this,\" said James Bennett, the curator of Southeast Asian and
\nOceanic Art Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in
\nAustralia.<\/p>\n
All of the work in the exhibit was completed at a September
\n1994 workshop at Brahma Tirta Sari Batik Studio in Yogyakarta.
\nThe combination of talent signifies a sharing of spiritual
\nphilosophies and technical ideas between Indonesia and its close
\nneighbors in Australia.<\/p>\n
The exhibition features work by the women of the Anmatyerr
\nlanguage in Utopia in northeastern central Australia. For the
\npast decade, these people have been known for their acrylic
\npaintings which are derived from their spiritual tradition of
\nceremonial body painting. During the outstation movement of the
\nlate 1970s, when Aboriginals returned to their land after
\nEuropean colonization had uprooted them, the universal craft
\nmovement also occurred and people regained appreciation for
\nhandmade works. These factors contributed to batik becoming the
\npreferred medium for the particular Utopia clan in this
\nexhibition.<\/p>\n
Batik lends itself well to the isolated living environment of
\nthese people. In the book Utopia, A Picture Story by Anne Marie
\nBrody, their method of making batik is described as \"highly
\nsociable, domestic and informal, taking place near people's
\nhomes, subject to interruption by children, hunting trips, and
\nweather extremes.\" In the midst of the remote outback dessert
\nthis remains a most creative and practical outlet for expression.<\/p>\n
The artists who joined with the Anmatyerr women at Brahma
\nTirta Sari have worked with and supported the group, exchanging
\nand incorporating ideas toward enhancement of the clan's
\ntechnique as well as their own.<\/p>\n
In 1988, Brahma Tirta Sari Batik Studio facilitated a cap
\n(batik stamp) workshop for Australian textile artists which has
\nactivated a vibrant, ongoing program of exchange with the batik
\nmakers from \"Down Under\". Agus Ismoyo and Nia Fliam, seasoned
\nbatik artists at Brahma Tirta Sari, are catalysts in the
\nexploration of batik cap as a fine art textile form in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
In \"Hot Wax\" these newly introduced techniques are used by the
\nUtopia artists for an enhanced expression of traditional designs
\nand their accompanying symbolic meanings within the Aboriginal
\nsociety. Nia has described working with these people in both
\nIndonesia and Australia as a primary example of the \"transmission
\nof knowledge between one people and another through a shared
\nsource of energy and traditional ties.\"<\/p>\n
During the September workshop that led to this exhibition, the
\nAboriginal women used traditional Javanese methods in their work
\nand adapted them to their own style and motifs. This is seen in
\n\"Hot Wax\" where Utopia batik depicts wayang kulit figures
\nalongside traditional ancestral goannas.<\/p>\n
\"In turn, Brahma Tirta Sari has integrated stylistic features
\nto their work which were inspired by the more relaxed and
\nspontaneous Aboriginal approach to design,\" said Bennett, a
\nconsummate batik artist who has worked for years with Utopia and
\nother Aboriginal textile artists across Australia.<\/p>\n
The inclusion of another white Australian batik artist, Jenny
\nGreen, alongside the Aboriginal and Indonesian exhibitors,
\nreflects her contributions of the past 20 years in linguistics
\nand anthropology of the Utopia region as well as her creativity
\nin batik art. Her rapport is attributed in particular to the
\nsignificant role she has played in assisting Aboriginal people in
\nregaining their own traditional hunting and ceremonial lands
\nthrough Australian government indigenous land rights legislation.<\/p>\n
Green has observed the incorporation of external styles and
\ninfluences of the Utopia artists which represents \"a particular
\ngenius and capacity to appropriate the exotic\" without misplacing
\nlocal tradition.<\/p>\n
In this exhibition the concern for carrying forward the
\nspiritual significance of art continues to be drawn from the
\nartists' own traditions, according to Green, whether it be
\nJavanese kejawen -- a Hindu-Javanese philosophy in which all
\naspects of existence, seen and unseen, can be experienced
\ndirectly -- or Aboriginal \"dreaming\" which is the definition of
\nthe creative era when all aspects of earth originated.<\/p>\n
The particular cross section of creative energy generated in
\nthe production of \"Hot Wax\" has proven the devotion of these
\nartists to the common goal of presenting batik with a dynamism
\ndrawn from what Green has described as \"traditional aesthetic
\nwisdom\". The wisdom is translated through the medium of
\nbrilliantly colored batik silks into a \"contemporary visual
\nlanguage\".<\/p>\n
The exhibition runs through Jan. 7 and is open from 10 a.m. to
\n9 p.m. daily.<\/p>",
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