The batik tulis method is such a long and complicated process, every time we try to explain it to someone, not just our tongues get tied with all the terms, our brains too!

So, specially for our presentation, we made a short video with the ladies at Kebon Indah explaining the process and their feelings towards the batik tulis craft. Nobody explains it as simply and clearly as they do!

The video was shot by our wonderful Aul and edited by just as awesome Lulu (independent film maker from Yogyakarta – check out Lulu’s Channel on Youtube). Enjoy!

Galungan (Balinese Harvest Festival) - Lawar making is a must!

Men in the kitchen - Kabul and Palguna making Balinese Lawar

Palguna's family dog - Beautiful Que-Jarah

In the evening @ Rumah Nona - Aul & Mintio discussing the presentation sequence

Getting ready for our Rumah Kita presentation

Questions and Answers - Kabul sharing further our processes in the project

With Inggar our lovely neighbour, Rina and Ye

Joses (in grey shirt) our guest from Singapore

Feast! Salad, homemade by chef Kabul, Lawar from Palguna, Mushroom Pizza from Zango and Vodka from Changi Airport Duty Free Shop!

It is Galungan, the Balinese harvest festival today, timely for the completion of our Jakarta presentation preparations. Kabul and I went to visit Palguna and family at their home in the afternoon. Last Galungan (the festival happens twice a year),  Palguna was out of Yogyakarta to be back in his hometown in Bali. This time, we got the honor of trying his home-made lawar (Balinese dish of minced pork, spices and pig’s blood). Its also Palguna’s last week in Yogyakarta before he heads to Seoul for the five-months-long Changdong Artist in Residence Program.

By evening, we were all packed for our flight to Jakarta. For Rumah Ku (my house), it will be Kabul’s first ever presentation delivered in English so we decided to host our own “Rumah Kita” (our house) to share our presentation with our own circle of friends.

Preparing for the final touches

Ibu Suminah giving feedback on the work

Ibu Suminah studying the print

Pak Kardi boiilng the works

Out of the boiling pot

Checking on the outcome of the boiling

Further rinsing with Pak Kardi

Last stages of batik for Ibu Tuti's batik

Our works hanging out to dry

Ferriel and Jimmy Ong, our guests

Its 3 more days to our Rumahku presentation in Jakarta with the Indonesian Heritage Society and we are getting the work all set for the show. Kabul has been working for almost 24 hours for the past few days, sensitizing the batik with cyanotype chemicals in the evening and waking up in the middle of the night to print. The results, I must say, are gorgeous!

We headed back to the village this morning with all the prints ready for the final touches of boiling to remove the paraffin wax. It was lovely to have Jimmy Ong (Singaporean artist based in the States) and Feriel (performance artist from bandung) to come visiting with us. Jimmy is here in Yogyakarta to do research for his new project discussing with local women their perspectives on Sita’s plight in the Ramayana. For those who are clueless as to what this Hindhu epic is about, Jimmy had shared with me a wonderful animation called “Sita Sings the Blues”. Its available on Youtube and it has a website. In the context of Southeast Asia, the Ramayana is a key narratives for a lot of traditional expressions. The wayang kulit (shadow puppet theatre) is one of them. Often, people will remember clearly the conflicts surrounding Rama (afterall the epic is named after him) but how frequently to people empathize with Sita?

In the car on the way to the village, we had really interesting discussions on the role of women, particular to our cultures (Mintio coming from Singapore, Kabul from Bali, Feriel from Bandung and Jimmy with a American perspective). There is still much to be discussed pertaining to women’s issues here and working on this project with batik-making having such gendered roles (the women would be working with the canting whilst the men will work with the stamping tools and dying equipment). Yet, we feel we have barely even covered the tip of the iceberg. We are really glad that this project might be a start, not to change anything but at least for us to be more aware.

iCAN (Indonesia Contemporary Art Network)

Jl. Suryodiningratan 39 Yogyakarta
Opening: Saturday, 7 April 2012, 7pm
Exhibition: 7 April-7 May 2012, 11am-8pm
Dialogue with the artist: Saturday, 14 April 2012, 4pm
Free admission and open for public 

Wimo says it best – in Jogja, spontaneous visits happens more frequently than organized ones. Its always better not to plan.

Finally after almost half a year of being a Jogjakartan, MES Boyz Wimo and Angki visits my studio at Rumah Nona with news of putting together a work in progress presentation at Ruang MES 56. There’s always adrenaline pumping working on tight schedules and late notices and this evening’s discussion proves that inspiration comes along in such circumstances as well.

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Putri & Ojan_01

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We had a surprise visit from a lovely couple at Rumah Nona today. Putri and Ojan heard about our cyanotype workshop through friends and decided to come see what the process will be like at our place.

Putri and Ojan designs and makes wonderful screen printed fabrics (I really like some of their animal designs!). Their merchandise can be found in Kedai Kebun Forum in Yogyakarta and lately we were very happy to find them at Salihara in Jakarta.

Visit Putri & Ojan’s Website!