Repatriation of Stephanie Belfrage's Batak Textile Collection and Ibu Devi's Resolve

I was deeply moved when Stephanie Belfrage said that she and her husband George were going to try to come to the repatriation ceremony of their Batak textiles. The arrived in Jakarta late on Thursday night and on Friday morning I was with them in their hotel lobby. 

Kamaruddin Simanjuntak had kindly loaned us one of his cars and so I was able to take Stephanie and George to visit their friend Mara Soekarno. (I had already been there a few days earlier to fetch Stephanie's textiles and bring them for accessioning to Museum Tekstil.) The lunch that Mara offered us was extraordinarily delicious!! And Stephanie was able to meet other friends from that previous moment in her life when she lived in Jakarta.

From Mara's house, we pushed on through dense traffic to Museum Tekstil where we met Pak Indra, the director, and Ibu Mis'Ari, the executive chef. The best part was the attendance of Ibu Devi Pandjaitan, a wealthy champion of Batak culture and Batak youth. She explained the need for a formal organization that would promote and protect Batak textiles. 

Stephanie's textiles are nice, but not exceptional. What makes her collection brilliant is what Stephanie has done with it. She has given it back to Indonesia where it serves as an inspiration to others to donate their collections as well. Her collection has 'primed the pump' as it were. And it was the singular factor that inspired Ibu Devi Panjaitan's resolve to set up a formal Batak textile group. She announced this during the afternoon repatriation ceremony on the first day of our Taman Mini event. Afterwards I said to MJA Nashir, "If only this is the result of Pulang Kampung III, it has already been a singular success." And "The erection of this body to protect and promote Batak textiles could have a longer-lasting influence than anything else that we have done." May this council of Batak textiles act wisely.

The repatriation of Stephanie's textiles was the perfect complement to our launch of Pulang Kampung III. Both are about bringing energy back to the villages, whatever the form.

3. Beautiful Old Ulos will turn Back to the Villages III into a Celebration of the Batak Weaving Arts

A few blogs ago, I wrote about Stephanie Belfrage, the thoughtful Australian woman who decided to return her Indonesian batiks to Java. That sparked a short repatriation ceremony in which her batiks were gifted to Museum Batik in Pekalongan, a ceremony made possible through the efforts of the non-profit Pekalongan Heritage Community and especially Arif Dirhamzah.

What I didn’t mention in the blog was that Stephanie originally contacted me about her Batak textile collection and not her batik textile collection. Pulang Kampung III is, in part, my response  to her request to have the textiles go back to Tano Batak. They are to be housed permanently and well in Jakarta’s Museum Tekstil, but first, this summer, they will join the Back to the Villages III tour and sail around Lake Toba where they will delight and inspire all who see them.

I saw Stephanie's textiles for the first time in Jakarta with
Lasma Sitanggang, my Batak 'daughter'.

I commend the direction and staff of Jakarta’s Museum Tekstil for their decision to join us. If the people can’t make it to the museum, let the museum go to the people.  Museum Tekstil in Jakarta is an enthusiastically engaged institution that values not just the work of indigenous weavers, but also the weavers themselves. They do everything in their power to encourage the weaving arts in the archipelago. This time, they are taking it upon themselves to transport Stephanie’s textiles to North Sumatra and set up a makeshift exhibition in a different village on each day of the journey. It will be a lot of work, but they do not shy away from hard work.

Room devoted to weaving equipment in
Jakarta's Museum Tekstil

I hope and expect that the Back to the Villages exhibition series will be mutually inspiring. The staff of Museum Tekstil will get to know the Batak through their reactions to the textiles, and the Batak will be given the opportunity to reflect on the changes in their weaving arts. Stated more directly and clearly, they will be confronted by the disappearance of their woven heritage and it will undoubtedly give them pause.

I am thrilled with the two focuses of the upcoming Back to the Villages journey: film and textiles. What could be more synergetic? The film is about ancient textile techniques and there will be a textile exhibition to complement and support it. The addition of the textile exhibition has turned Back to the Villages III into a celebration of the Batak weaving arts.