Museum embraces batik makers

Museum embraces batik makers

Tarko Sudiarno, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

A new batik museum has opened here in Imogiri, Bantul, about 15 kilometers southeast of Yogyakarta, offering not just a collection of batik works but also an environment where traditional batik painters who have been in the business for generations live and produce fine traditionally made batik works.

Governor Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, who is also the sultan of Yogyakarta Palace, officially opened the museum last week. Occupying a traditional Javanese building, which is over 200 years old and the famous joglo-roofed hall -- which is so named as it is shaped like a boat -- the museum is located among the workshops of many traditional batik makers.

"We plan that the museum will stand as a living monument to batik. Therefore we will not just display batik works. We will also show how handmade batik is created and how batik makers continue to survive in the region," said Larasati Suliantoro, initiator of the museum who is also chairwoman of the association of Yogyakarta batik lovers, Paguyuban Sekar Jagad.

To realize this objective, a special place for selling local batik products is also provided at the museum. That way, she said, the museum would not just be a place for displaying historical collections but also become part of the surrounding environment -- which explains why the museum is called the Imogiri Batik Environment Museum.

Located across from the Imogiri traditional market, the museum displays some 200 pieces of traditional batik of different motifs and patterns. They are neatly displayed in the main house which is similar to those of noble families in the past, complete with a traditional room for greeting visitors, pedaringan or senthong tengah as it is more popularly called.

The joglo hall in front of the main house is used to display local batik products that visitors can buy, while the demonstration of the making of handmade traditional batik cloth is provided on the left and right sides of the main entrance.

"In the long run we plan to display batik from all batik regions of Bantul," Larasati Suliantoro said.

The sub-district of Imogiri has long been known as the center of the traditional batik industry, where most batik shops and galleries in the city (which sell traditional batik) obtain their merchandise.

There are numerous groups of batik craftsmen in the region, each utilizing different patterns and motifs.

The fact that Imogiri is also well known for the graveyards of the noble families of the Yogyakarta Palace indicates that the region may have existed well before the Mataram Kingdom. Also, this further explains why the region has been the home of traditional batik painters for generations.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the museum, the sultan said that the establishment of the museum would hopefully enable people to further study the region's social and cultural life. Through a particular batik motif, he said, one could recognize the history of a region that would in turn enable them to inherit, not just the batik tradition, but also cultural values.

"A (traditional) batik painter expresses an idea, like storing a document, while painting a batik work. That's why we can trace the history of a particular region through the batik works produced in the region," the sultan said.

The sultan also expressed hope that the batik tradition in Imogiri would continue, and advised local batik producers to really know the batik market -- outside and inside the country, including how to produce batik without chemical or toxic ingredients. That way, he said, Indonesian batik products would survive on the global market.