I went to Jakarta last month primarily to attend the Adi Wastra Nusantara, (Masterpieces of the Archipelago), a stunning Indonesian textile exhibit at the Jakarta Convention Center.
Indonesia is celebrating National Re-Awakening Year and Visit Indonesia Year. The exhibit was one of the events that these milestones brought about. The Jakarta Convention Center is a huge covered area befitting the 225 million population that Indonesia has.
With the theme, “Tracing Traditions, Knitting Ties and Building Creative Economic Power through Cultural-Based Production,” a mouthful indeed, but duly translated into a special exhibit of heritage fabrics that were traditional batik pieces, or woven and embroidered textiles of outstanding artistic merit followed by designer pieces by well-known batik artists and couture houses for contemporary fashion, and complimented with a 200-stall bazaar that had everything in quality and quantity regarding traditional Indonesian and Asian textiles, it was literally that.
The opening ceremonies saw the humongous convention hall packed to the rafters with every seat taken and everyone dressed in traditional fabrics. The invitation specified “Batik Long Sleeves” which is the equivalent of our Barong Tagalog. For Indonesian women it meant all styles of elegant batik.
The Indonesian Textile Society that organized the show, Himpunan Wastreprema, is an association of collectors, researchers and aficionados of batik, woven and other traditional Indonesian textiles, of which there are many. It dates from 1976 and has 300 members in various parts of the Indonesian archipelago as well as foreign countries. Its mission is to work towards appreciation and knowledge regarding cultural heritage and to gain a greater sense of nationhood. So, they initiate and promote research, studies, exhibitions, any way to convey knowledge of traditional Indonesian textiles so as to ensure that they survive and sustain future generations aside from today`s.
From cursory street observation in Jakarta, I saw that batik is both everyday and gala event wear. It is a daily piece of clothing, very much a livelihood in villages scattered in the large archipelago, and a tradition renewed everyday that it is part and parcel of the landscape. What this means is that it offers a way of living in the social and economic sense, which is very much a part of national identity.
Taxi drivers, government officials, market vendors as well as anyone who wants to comply with the dress code of an event, wears batik. Himpunan (association) Wastreprema (derived from the Sanskrit words wastra, meaning cloth; and prema, love) promotes the understanding and appreciation of keeping batik and the other Indonesian textiles for today and tomorrow`s generations, just as in the past.
Indonesia also promotes batik in a big way internationally. In 2005 there was a Batik Exhibit in Spain with an accompanying publication, El Alma de Indonesia (The Soul of Indonesia). Batik is well known and regarded internationally thanks to efforts like these as well as numerous publications on the subject. It may be pertinent to mention here that at the Adi Wastra Nusantara Show there was a Philippine booth (put up by Silahis Art and Artifacts of Intramuros) which sold every Barong Tagalog it had for sale, piña pieces as well as yakan, tinalak cloth. We should note that with promotions of our own we can preserve our traditional textiles and give economic wellbeing to those who produce them.
In 2005, Himpunan Wastreprema hosted the First Asean Textile Symposium which as the name implies included textiles from Asean nations, i.e., Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, the Philippines and Indonesia. Textile scholars read papers, delegates exchanged notes, there was a fashion show of indigenous textiles from the region, field trips to various weaving and manufacturing textile centers, and in general the beginning of an organized impetus in the Asean region for everyone to value, preserve, conserve and promote their indigenous textile industries.
Next year the Asean Textile Symposium will be held in Manila at the National Museum.
Source: www.manilatimes.net (2 Mei 2008)
