Cultures reconciled: Butterflies and phoenixes

Helly Minarti, Contributor, Jakarta

Dragons might be the ultimate Chinese icon, but when it comes to batik or textile arts, butterflies and phoenixes play a much greater role.

So the newly released book Butterflies and Phoenixes (published by Mitra Museum Indonesia) established its bold argument, unraveling a trajectory rarely taken in presenting batik by other authors: Chinese inspirations in Indonesian textile arts.

Batik is a product of traveling cultures. Along with the first Chinese expeditions, treading the Silk Road to almost every corner of the world, came also the butterflies and phoenixes -- first through the medium of silk and porcelain.

In the islands that now are known as Indonesia, the two animal figures featured on and off in local batik fashion as trends or fads, before settling as arguably the strongest presence in Indonesian batik motifs, as suggested by Iwan Tirta, a fashion designer specializing in batik for more than three decades, who wrote the introductory essay.

In this beautifully covered coffee table book, writers Judi Knight-Achjadi and Asmoro Damais seamlessly weave their main narrative of Chinese presence -- through connecting texts and photos -- into the intricate social history of the colonial past as seen in the textiles, fashion and lifestyle of the era it presents.

Published in the post-reform Indonesia after the officially sanctioned discrimination inflicted on the country's Chinese was lifted (in 1999), the discourse of this cultural facet of Indonesian identity -- Chinese Indonesian - is never so pertinent as now.

Nothing novel is revealed in the account of batik historical backgrounds, but all known facts are finely stitched to frame the Chinese influence in batik as the main perspective from the beginning. What is so interesting is how this peculiar chapter of batik historiography is enlivened through photos (both reproduction and old ones), providing a text of its own, and how the two corresponded in order to reconstruct the peranakan narrative of that time, leading to the contemporary time.

For example, picture of a piece of kain panjang (cloth wrapping around the waist, wore as a long skirt) of Batik Bangungon made in Cirebon faces an old picture of a Chinese- Indonesian woman wearing a similar type of kain panjang complete with a kebaya encim (Chinese version of kebaya) as a matching top, in the early 20th Century with an explanatory caption to link the two.

Sourcing both her private batik collection and other batik/textile collectors for illustration, Damais also hunted old family photos of her friends to help describe the era. Some of them are famous families of Chinese-descent such as Tjong A Fie in Medan or the late Yap Thiap Hien, the famous human rights figure.

In between, the kain/sarong wearing culture is pictorially contextualized with other clothing and accessories such as baju panjang and kebaya (women's top/blouse), batiked pants popular with men in the past, embroidered slippers and gold accessories.

One account on Minangkabau is timely and crucial. Chinese influence in Indonesian modern culture is omnipresent, but sometimes it seeps through so seamlessly that it becomes a part of daily life -- such as in foods or other aspects of living. Although it might be crystal clear to the expert eye of "Chinese" influence on Minang traditional costumes or bridal arrangement, this is hardly acknowledged. The book provided stunning proof to support this argument through the old, embroidered bridal satin dress of Nian Djumena, a textile collector, and a wedding photograph from the 1970s.

As both authors stated, Butterflies and Phoenixes is just a prelude to a much longer opus. Many subjects could be included -- such as the textiles of Palembang or Betawi costume.

But the book's importance lies in its boldness in presenting an angle so right at a time when it was never so plausible to discuss the once-foreign influence that is now actually so embedded in the nation's culture. Reading it feels like reconciling with one own cultural heritage as an Indonesian. After a relationship spanning centuries, often so tainted with political and social prejudices, it is time for Indonesians of Chinese descent to embrace their Indonesian identity as well as for pribumi (indigenous Indonesians) to acknowledge Chinese influences in their origins.

"Half the Chinese-Indonesian families I contacted refused to show their family's photographs. I guess, (they're) still shadowed by the political situation of the last 30 years and the traumas of uncertain times. But once they saw the print-proof of the book, they regretted not showing me their photos. It's part of the "opening-up" process of us being Indonesians," said Damais.

Cultural integration indeed takes time. Hopefully this book will somehow find its way to be translated into Indonesian and published in paperback, otherwise the important message embedded in this book will be confined to the bookshelves of the elite.