Madura batik tells tale of barren land

Madura batik tells tale of barren land

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

While their menfolk were at sea, Madurese women made batik at
home; this is the familiar story about Madurese batik.

While the seamen braved the waves of the Java sea, the women
let their minds accompany their husband and lovers, imagining the
waves and the red-orange sunset, producing a batik motif known as
Tasik Malaya (Malayan sea).

Despite its uniqueness, Madurese batik is less popular than
that of other regions, probably due to a lack of promotion.

Madurese batik cannot, however, be separated from Madura's
culture and geographical nature.

This small island east of Java is a vast, barren land of white
limestone rocks with a notoriously hot climate, often held to
blame for the traits associated with the Madurese of coarse
language and an up-front manner.

These are somehow shown in the boldness of the batik colors
and the directness of the motifs, which unlike Surakarta's or
Yogyakarta's batik, have no hidden meaning.

If you see a boat on a piece of Madurese batik, it is meant to
be a boat. If they want to draw elephant, they will draw
something that resembles an elephant instead of a symbol of an
elephant like the gajah birawa (great elephant) motif from
Central Java.

Madurese batik-makers are also known for their free style when
drawing motifs. They rarely use templates or fixed patterns, so
in the process they have developed unique detailing.

The motifs are usually a descriptive expression of fauna like
birds, elephants (likely introduced when the Madurese menfolk
visited Sumatra), and flower-like coffee blossoms. The motifs are
also a description of things like ships or flower bouquets they
knew from the Dutch, or a banal object like a piece of fermented
shrimp paste.

The batik usually incorporates strong colors like vibrant
reds, indigo blues, deep greens and matte black. The traditional
hand-painted batik largely use vegetable dyes.

For a crash course about this fascinating batik, visit the
Textile Museum on Jl. K.S. Tubun in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta,
where dozens of antique Madura batiks are on display.

The collection on display comprises batik belonging to the
museum itself and Madurese antique and batik shops Pesona Batik
Madura and Madurese Arts and Crafts.

The exhibition covers a reasonable range of Madurese batik
varieties from different regions in the island like Sampang,
Sumenep, Bangkalan and Pamekasan.

However, the museum provides only limited information about
the batik.

Perhaps they are saving this information for the Madurese
batik discussion on Monday, June 20 at 10.00 a.m.

On the opening day, last Wednesday, the museum presented a
fashion show using fabrics by young Yogyakarta designer Rosso,
who designs batik for modern fashion.

At the back of the building the museum has also provided
stalls for some batik shops to sell their collections.

Pesona Batik Madura is displaying beautiful, hand-painted
batik produced by villagers from Tanjungbumi in Madura, a famous
batik area in the island.

Pesona's collection uses only vegetable dye, which according
to the owner of the shop, would not fade for dozens of years.

The prices range from Rp 50,000 (US$5.5) to Rp 5 million.

Other stalls sold less pricey batik, of course of different
quality, but still beautiful.

Nanas Indah, a shop in Pamekasan, Madura, opened a temporary
stall at the museum, selling, for example, a two-meter hand-
painted batik with a shrimp motif for only Rp 80,000.

Unfortunately, the stalls' attendants all said they would
probably not stay long at the museum because they thought few
visitors would arrive.

Madurese Batik Exhibition
June 15 through June 25
Madurese Batik Discussion
June 20 at 10:00 a.m.

Museum Textile Indonesia
Jl. KS Tubun No. 4
West Jakarta (near Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta)
tel. 5606613
e-mail: mustekstil@telkom.net
Contact person: Mindari/Ari