Indonesian Batik By Alison Gerke 2005

Indonesia is located in Southeastern Asia between the Indian and the Pacific Ocean.

Indonesia is the worlds largest archipelagic state, or the worlds largest group of islands. With over 17,000 islands with in its countries boarders, Indonesia is rich with different cultures, religions and languages. The majority ethnic group is Javanese and the majority religion is Muslim.

Beginning in 1602 the Dutch gradually established themselves as rulers of what is now Indonesia. At that time, the islands were called the Dutch East Indies. In 1942, during World War II, the Japanese took over occupation of the Indonesian Islands. On August 24 th 1945, Indonesia declared independence.

The name Indonesia has its roots in two Greek words: "Indos" meaning Indian and "Nesos" which means islands. Indonesia is known for its beautiful pristine beaches, towering volcanic mountains and lush rain forests.

It would be impossible to visit or live in Indonesia and not be exposed to one of the country's most highly developed art forms, batik.

The word batik is thought to be derived from the word 'ambatik' which translated means 'a cloth with little dots'. The suffix 'tik' means little dot, drop, point or to make dots. Batik may also originate from the Javanese word 'tritik' which describes a resist process for dying where the patterns are reserved on the textiles by tying and sewing areas prior to dying.

Although experts disagree as to the precise origins of batik, samples of dye resistance patterns on cloth can be traced back 1,500 years ago to Egypt and the Middle East. Samples have also been found in Turkey, India, China, Japan and West Africa from past centuries. Although in these countries people were using the technique of dye resisting decoration, within the textile realm, none have developed batik to its present day art form as the highly developed intricate batik found on the island of Java in Indonesia.

Batik is both an art and a craft, which is becoming more popular and well known in the west as a wonderfully creative medium. The art of decorating cloth in this way, using wax and dye, has been practiced for centuries. In Java, Indonesia, batik is part of an ancient tradition, and some of the finest batik cloth in the world is still made there.

To make a batik, selected areas of the cloth are blocked out by drawing hot wax over them. The wax is applied with a tool called a Tjanting. The cloth is then dyed. The parts covered in wax resist the dye and remain the original color.

Examples Traditional

Contemporary

Portraiture

Navajo

Abstract

Landscape

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