“MIXTURE” COASTAL BATIK FESTIVE

“MIXTURE” COASTAL BATIK FESTIVE

Celebrating National Batik Day, ALIT Indonesia in collaboration with Wisma Jerman held “MIXTURE”, an exhibition of coastal batik as a form of implementation of literary elements in the Dewa-Dewi Ramadaya program from ALIT Indonesia. This event was also supported by Kindermissionswerk “Die Sternsinger”.

The activity was held for 4 days from 6^th to 9^th of November 2023 with a total of 100 visitors attending. The event not only comprised the exhibition, but there were also workshops and expert discussions which are available free of charge to the public. The opening ceremony was held in Wisma Jerman’s backyard. Besides Mrs. Yuliati Umrah, the Executive Director of ALIT Indonesia, short welcome words were also delivered by Mr. Mike Neuber, Director of Wisma Jerman, Ms. Fiona Hoggart, General Consulate of Australia, and Mr. Christian Natamado Simanullang on behalf of My America Surabaya.

On the second day, the exhibition was accompanied by a batik workshop class. There were 11 people who took part in the workshop. The same day also saw visits, by 27 students from Santa Maria Surabaya High School and several students from the Ciputra University Business Department. The batik workshop presented an introduction to the meaning and philosophy of batik in history, the meaning of batik motives, the process of sketching batik motives, the canting process, and the coloring process. The workshop was led by Mrs. Yuliati Umrah assisted by 2 co-facilitators, namely Farra Ayu Aprizia Putri and Dicky Frian Budi.

The third day presented a batik expert discussion with three main speakers, namely Dr. Pinky Saptandari as a cultural anthropologist, Mr. Embran Nawawi as a fashion designer, and Mr. Hary Soerijanto Rosali as the German Museum Curator. The discussion was held in room Berlin with the theme “Coastal Batik as a Portrait of Freedom of Expression and Cultural Acculturation.” It raised several topics, including the story behind coastal batik, the characteristics of coastal batik and others, cultural acculturation in coastal batik, as well as coastal batik as a form of freedom of expression, especially in the world of fashion for present, past, and future. The session was moderated by Mrs. Heti Palestina, a journalist for Harian Disway.

This event was broadcast live via Instagram @mixture.ddrd. During the discussion, Embran Nawawi explained that batik is not only a form of cultural heritage, but batik is also a part of the present and future cultural life that is shared and must be maintained together regardless of age. The discussion event was attended by representatives from Komunitas Pemuda Berkain Surabaya, Prof. Thalca Hamid who is a collector and batik lover, as well as friends from other batik lover communities. The offline discussion was attended by 15 participants.

On the last day, a free drapery workshop was available for the public. In this class, participants were taught how to mix and match batik cloth so that it can be used as fashionable clothing without having to cut the batik cloth. The activity was carried out in Wisma Jerman’s backyard with 7 participants. The workshop material was delivered by Puji Lestari who is a member of the fashion design team of ALIT Indonesia with assistance by Farra Ayu Aprizia Putri as her model.