Pekalongan 2023: Where Batik Lives

Yesterday Pekalongan’s magic emerged for me again. This time it was in the meeting room of the Batik Museum.  When the batik maker Lim Po Him spoke I realized I was once again in the heart of passion. Afterwards Pak Sapuan explained that Lim Po Him frequently cries when she talks about her batik enterprise, a kind of trademark! He asked her whether she was crying from happiness or sadness or pain. It was unclear; it was all jumbled together. It seemed to be pure passion: gratitude, an expression of her great struggle, her success, the meaning of her entire life.  

“I have been able to live because I sell batik.” She explained that her father began the enterprise out of desperation and he started from ‘0’; he had to learn batik from scratch. (Tears of empathy). He died when she was just a teenager (tTears of sadness and shock) and she took over. She bore the responsibility for keeping it going (Tears to mark the struggle and the fear). Everything she knew was from him; he was her teacher (Tears of nostalgia and acknowledgement). Now she had white hair and she was grateful that she was still able to make batik. (Tears of gratitude.) Endlessly grateful. Even though it was difficult to survive. (More tears to mark her struggle.) Despite corona. She had managed to get through the pandemic with her workshop intact. (Tears of gratitude and pain.) Batik was her entire life: her upbringing, her relationship with her father, her avenue to learn about life, her repository of passion, aesthetic and skill, her pride, her success, her love. Oh yes, and her income. It was not a ‘business’ in any cut and dried ‘rational’ sense. It was her entire life.

 

This is the magic of batik in Pekalongan. I am not writing about the Pekalongan where batik is the centre of trade. I write about the Pekalongan where batik is inscribed on the hearts of the ones who wield and guide the wax pen (canting).

 

Pak Sapuan spoke with a kind of meta-voice. He revealed that that only five batik workshops where the wax pen is deployed (rather than the print production) had survived corona. It was a quiet fact. He did not complain, but this fact told me enough about the pain. Even here in the batik centre of the world! My heart dropped down to my sandals. It had been a ‘lockdown’ of craft. Lim Po Him’s words had revealed how profoundly hearts had been broken, how unwillingly the traditions severed, the immensity of the loss.

 

The first time I met Pak Sapuan was in the home of Ibu Fathiyah, about 12 years ago. That was when I encountered the vibrancy with which a textile tradition can live in a community. Ibu Fath had invited batik makers and they brought their favourite ancient batiks with them. Everybody discussed them avidly and shared stories of their families as batik makers. I referenced that meeting during my talk: “I grew up in Canada. There clothing and textiles are what one buys, wears and throws away. They are dead. Here in Pekalongan, they are alive. They are treasured and discussed. They bring their owners in touch with their forefathers and their histories. Here people live through their cloth.” That was the first time I experienced Pekalongan’s magic. Pak Sapuan referenced my words. They had struck a chord. Some people recorded Lim Po Him while she was speaking. She was voicing the essence of batik in Pekalongan. It was an historic moment.

 

Afterwards a young man came to me and said that there was also an exhibition of promising new batik talent in the museum. He took me to see two of his pieces on display. Such extraordinary talent! Falahy Mohamad is an architect, a textile design student devoted to his batik tradition, an artist learning about natural dyes. His batik deployed intricate geometry combined with the ‘buketan’ or flower bouquets that, since colonial times, have come to characterize the batik of the Pekalongan area. Most important, he is an aspiring batik maker and he faces an economic system that is hostile to art, particularly of the craft nature. He asked me for advice and I felt the enormity of his question. Two young colleagues were with him facing the same challenge and hoping for a golden bullet.

 

I suggested that they band together, make a community, survive through collective strength and action. Going it alone is not an answer. Later when I was interviewed for the batik television channel I was clear that a tradition that was ancient and vibrant should not be allowed by a government to suffer and die because of an economic blip. The young man’s appeal rests heavily on my heart. I know that an art form cannot survive on alms and donations and an occasional sale; it has to be part of the fabric of society. Is his only avenue for survival the high-end art market for rich collectors? Both of his batik pieces on display took two years to make and they reveal spectacular talent. Artists such as this deserve a prize and a path, not looming destitution. These are the treasures of humankind. More of Lim Po Him’s tears should be of joy.

Thank you to Arief Dirhamsyah of Pekalongan Heritage and the Pekalongan Batik Museum for putting on the informal discussion about batik on Sunday 29 January, and for including me in it. One of Stephanie Belfrage's batiks was in the Museum show about the Chinese tradition of batik in Pekalongan. I had returned this batik to the public collection, at her behest, some 7 years earlier. For a more complete account of this history, see MJA Nashir's writing. 

 

Pulang Kampung in Pekalongan

In a blog last February, I revealed that a woman in Australia had asked for my help to return her beloved traditional textiles to Indonesia. She had collected them in Indonesia in the 1980s and was now moving house and downsizing. She wanted to give them back to Indonesia precisely because they were so important to her. I agreed to do what I could.

When I wrote that blog I was loath to disclose details about my ruminations because they had not yet become solid plans. Now, some 9 months later, I am thrilled to share the story of how Stephanie Belfrage’s textiles have found a new home in their country of origin. (There are more textiles in the collection about which I am still ruminating and composing plans.) The story of the repatriation of Stephanie Belfrage’s batiks became front page news in Indonesia. The textiles were received more enthusiastically than I could ever have dreamed would be the case.

Article in Metro Pekalongan on 24 September
announcing the plans to return Stephanie Belfrage's textiles.

Article in Kompas Newspaper 2 October

Stephanie had five North Coast batiks in her collection. When she wrote to me, I had just returned from a visit to Pekalongan to explore the haunts of the famous batik maker, Eliza van Zuylen-Niessen. I had met dedicated members of the Pekalongan Heritage Community and had been given an impressive tour of Pekalongan’s beautiful Batik Museum. I was inspired to dream up a strategy in which the return of Stephanie’s batiks would also promote the goals of my new friends.

Mas Arif beside a batik made by Eliza van Zuylen

Arif Dirhamzah was a key player in the strategy and the reason for its success. A leading member of the Pekalongan Heritage Community and reporter and adviser for the Pekalongan radio station, his network was extensive. His dedication, however, was the most important factor. He had been my host in Pekalongan and now he was my contact. I said that I wanted to give the textiles to the Pekalongan Heritage Community. I trusted this Community to  find an appropriate final destination for the textiles. Mas Arif went to work immediately exploring the option of the Pekalongan Batik Museum. The Heritage Community is a young and informal group and I hoped that by way of this transfer they would gain profile and stature in the community and also the Museum. Moreover, I wanted there to be a public record of the transfer.

The Mayor's representative spoke about the importance of
heritage and the successes of the museum.

Mas Arif obtained the green light from the city's Mayor and subsequently from the museum. When I finally arrived in the City of Batik, as Pekalongan dubs itself, at the end of September, everything was set. On October 1 a ceremony was held in the museum auditorium with many reporters in attendance as well as important leaders in the batik community. The Mayor was not able to make it personally, but he sent an official to represent him. The Museum director, Ibu Tanti, was our host as well as Pak Dojo, the municipal officer who held the museum portfolio. We took our place behind the table at the front of the room. 

I showed the audience the poster of the Pulang Kampung
project that was designed by MJA Nashir for our exhibition
in Erasmus Huis, Jakarta (2011)

I delivered a short speech about my Pulang Kampung project, the importance of preserving and sharing heritage, and about Stephanie Belfrage (the little that I knew). I then handed the textiles over to mas Arif. In turn, he passed them on to the man representing the Mayor. They were then transferred to the museum.

I passed the textiles to the Pekalongan
Heritage Community

Mas Arif then passed them on to the city
in the person of the Mayor's representative

The enthusiastic audience begged us to open the boxes and show them the textiles.

Museum director, Ibu Tanti, was pleased with the quality of the textiles
and the reaction that they received from the audience

The Mayor found time to visit the museum shortly afterwards and requested that Stephanie Belfrage's textiles be placed on display immediately. 

As pure luck would have it, the following day was National Batik Day marking the anniversary of UNESCO’s official recognition of batik as important intangible cultural heritage. 

The day was being celebrated in grand style in Pekalongan with an enormous batik market kicked off by national political leaders. Mr. Hatta Rajasa, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, would be visiting the museum and the Mayor would show off the gift. The Mayor, therefore, was  able to make some political hay from Stephanie Belfrage’s gift.

The museum director issued an official receipt for Stephanie’s batiks.

In all, the transfer was satisfying because Stephanie’s gift gave so many times and so well! 

An additional delight was the involvement of Greg Roberts, the courier of Stephanie’s textiles from Australia. A passionate aficionado of North Coast batiks, he had supplemented Stephanie's package with a copy of the exhibition catalogue of his own collection: one for the museum, one for the Pekalongan Heritage Community, and, I am very happy to say, one for me. It is a beautiful book!

I told my audience about Greg Roberts' batik catalogue.
Batik of Java: poetics and politics, 2010
Calounda Regional Gallery touring exhibition
Greg Roberts and Ian Reed Collection