Indonesian Embassy shows how to make batik

By Kim Se-jeong

At a batik workshop held at the Indonesian Embassy in Seoul earlier this month, everyone’s attention was on canting, a traditional wax marker.

“It’s difficult but very important not to make hot wax leak,” batik instructor Venny Alamsyah told some 30 participants.

Alamsyah demonstrated how to make thin and fine wax lines on the cloth, which didn’t look that challenging, but everyone soon realized it was the hardest part.

Batik is a garment usually made by hand through a wax-resistant dyeing technique. After a wax sketch is made on the cloth, it is soaked in colored waters and then in boiling water, to remove the wax.

Various materials are used to create batik including wood. In that case, a wood batik would be used for decoration.

Batik patterns reflect a variety of influences, ranging from Arabic calligraphy, Chinese phoenixes to Japanese cherry blossoms.

Batik from Java Island is one of the most renowned, as the patterns depict the “mythology, philosophy and cycle of life (on the island),” the ambassador said.

In Indonesia, batik is ubiquitous in people’s lives. Infants are carried in batik garments with patterns wishing luck, while the dead are covered with funeral batik.

It is found in other countries outside Indonesia, but it’s only Indonesia that is serious about asserting ownership.

Indonesian Ambassador Nicolas T. Dammen made that point clear in his welcoming speech.

“Batik is a precious heritage of the Indonesian culture and close to the heart of Indonesian people who love batik with its historical and artistic values.”

The national government pays batik instructors like Alamsyah to travel around the world and conduct workshops. She has traveled to more than 90 countries over the past seven years. In South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania, she has been holding workshops twice a year since 2006.

In 2009, UNESCO designated Indonesian batik a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

The reaction from participants of the event, mostly spouses and family members of diplomats residing in Korea, was positive.

“You don’t have to ask. Just look at them. We love it,” said Stephanie Danagher, wife of Michael Danagher, the charge d’affaires of the Canadian Embassy.

Calina Sayanova from Belarus said, “It’s interesting to learn traditions of people.” Her daughter who’s working at the Belarusian Embassy was also there.

The two-day separate session was the beginning of what is going to be an annual event, and the embassy is hoping to reach out to a broader audience next year.