By
Divina Gracia Baclig (CARE Philippines)
Siti Mahfuzah binti Mardy (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia)
Pan, yen-wei (National Taiwan Normal University)
Jose Limbay Lahi O. Espaldon (University of the Philippines Los Banos, Philippines)
David Alejandro Urueña Ramirez (Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Medellín)
I was especially excited to go to the Batik Museum. We arrived at the Batik Winotosastro Center at around nine in the morning. I was a bit surprised by the size of the space. I was expecting a factory-type set-up, given that batik is a popular Indonesian souvenir. I thought that they were mass producing the product. I realized how the center took pride in being true to the traditional process of creating batik by making sure that all processes are handmade.
It was the very first time for every participant, they listened carefully and followed the guide. Some of them picked up the stamps made by copper, others draw by their own hands. After choosing on a pattern, the next step is to apply wax on the pattern stamp. The stamp is placed on a bed of wax for 10-15minutes. Once the wax has melted on the stamp, it is applied on the textile. The textile now undergoes the dying process. I chose the color green because it’s just so invigorating! You would be surprised how long the process is for dyeing such a small piece of textile. I think it took around 15-20 minutes. After the dyeing process, the textile is washed to remove remnants of the wax used for pattern making. The next step is to iron out the textile to dry it. Then, it is ready for boxing. That was that I did, I created my own piece of Batik and I learned all about this, even if my artistic skills weren’t good, I did my best. I learned something new and I have a traditional piece of Batik as a souvenir made by me
Technology now, I believe, has shortened this process, and has made it more convenient, fast, and efficient. However, the machines remove the soul in creating batik, which is actually a piece of art in itself. Of all the trips we have made in class, it seems like this particular one is unrelated. But I would like to argue that introducing us to the tradition of batik making presents an important realization. That is, despite advances in technology, we still need to look into tradition to find solutions to the problems and issues with disasters. Throughout the course, we were taught Western, scientific methods and tools. But, I think the Batik exercise, helps us to not forget the importance of tradition and of indigenous knowledge that is inextricably rooted in ecosystems in order to find ways to build our resilience.
After seeing and experiencing this myself, I have nothing but full respect for the people of Indonesia. Keeping up with developed countries while conserving what is truly theirs.
After Batik, we did indepenedent observation. The independent observation has brought us to the fieldwork visit for our group assignment, which located at the Code Kali (Code River). The site visit aims to reflect the area about the issues arise in the study area and help group member to have broad information on the culture of the settlement along the river.