Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Traditional Malaysian Batiks

Much have been made about Malaysian batiks. Batik-making in Malaysia had over the years stretched the limit of what should be construed as batik. Modern Malaysian batiks sometimes do not look like batiks anymore - all in the name of so-called innovation. They may as well be printed by machine. And there are those which are just brush painted on the cloths and with a few lines and dots made by waxing!





I am a traditionalist when it comes to batik and if a batik is hand painted then it should be really be so and a work of art.

Anyway, I have always admired the traditional batik sarong and lepas from Trengganu and Kelantan which are block printed and multi-dyed. The making of the design block itself is a highly skilled and artistic output. Sadly this form of batiks are nowadays sidelined, unrecognised works of arts. Just imagine in developed countries like Australia, Europe and the US where any hand-made crafts or artwork are extremely valued and highly-priced. And in Malaysia block-printed batik which should fall into this category are relegated to the lower stratum of appreciation.

I have a whole collection of these batiks bought over the years for anything from RM10 to RM 16 or at the very most RM20 and they always make beautiful and excellent backdrop or decor at my functions.

Here are some of them
See video: http://youtu.be/slp729OJbO0

6 comments:

NanaDJ said...

Very nice Roem. Tok used to wear batik sarong all the time, especially those from Trengganu, our grandfather's state. Should have kept them, I have an old one of arwah Mak Ah's.

Mike Harlem said...

Hi Bro,
A very well done and up-to-date coverage of your journey in life.
Keep it up.
M A Halim

airmataemas said...

Thanks Na. I will post some photos of handpainted batiks on silk soon.

Peacebuy said...

Nice article!
I collect articles from the web anything to do with 'Malayness'. Would you mind if I publish this article and the other one on 'Petai...not enough ...Malay'. Link to your site would be cited at the bottom of the article. Pls leave me a note at my site.
Thank you!

airmataemas said...

Thank you 'peacebuy'. Yes you are welcome tp publish the articles. I am not able to leave you a message on your site though as there is no address in your profile! Hope you are reading this.....Salam.

Peacebuy said...

Thanks...
You could double click on my name or visit my site Gempamelayu.
By the way, nice insights on your travelogue - thanks for sharing.