May 20, 2013

In May all birds lay an egg *

Joepie, my new Vlisco!

A clear line starts to form in the Vlisco's I purchased. My last one, the nest filled with eggs on a great greenish-blue colored pattern of birds in branches from the 'Jeu De Couleurs' collection (see previous post 'The day that you knew was coming is finally here '), seems to be an extreme bold one, but is it?
So far I only have Vlisco's with birds, eggs and nests... and I do love birds, and I love having them build nests in my garden, but I do not long for a nest of my own. So when I first spotted this Vlisco online, I was wondering if I could wear it. What hidden message could be given to it?
That birds, nests or eggs could have many meanings, is clearly found in the Vlisco's I own, 'Happy Family' and 'Moms know best', but also in the works I made.
In my collaboration with artist Emmy Dijkstra bird nests are found in three of the paper installations***.
The first one, 'Copying the Moon', an installation of wallpaper forming the background for Emmy's paper dress, is filled with weaver birds building their moon-shaped nests. Our inspiration was a quote from a book about South-American Indians: "Do you know there is a place on earth where people and animals, water and trees, plants, stars and the moon live together? Where men gives a soul to everything that surrounds them, where everything is visible, touchable and tangible?"
For our ceremonial hut, a hut made of paper, I made a piece that didn't make the final selection, but is now hanging at home. The inspiration for this installation were the ceremonial huts made on New Guinea by the Papua. In my paper 'panels' I chose to work with symbols for fertility, nature and gender, common in tribal art, but in a way they represent the opposite.

Creating your own symbols and patterns gives you the freedom to give (a new) meaning to them. But even if the meaning is the same, by repeating a symbol you can make peace with its meaning.

But what meaning could be given to the Vlisco that is my newest addition to my small collection? It's a new design by Vlisco and I wonder how it did on the African market. My first thoughts were that it was an appropriate fabric for springtime, Easter Chic. The title of this blogpost "In May all birds lay an egg" (Dutch phrase "In mei leggen alle vogels een ei"), doesn't mean anything other then that birds start their breeding season in May, it's a weather proverb. So you can easily use this Vlisco to celebrate spring.
Another meaning could be: Nest egg. You have or need some savings for the future. Poultry farmers formerly placed a porcelain or other fake egg in a hen's nest to encourage it to lay more eggs, from this came the proverb; nest egg. Saving money is making money ****. In Africa women collect Vlisco's, and other textiles, as a form of savings account. Buying a Vlisco is considered an investment.
So this Vlisco could be my literal nest egg for a rainy day.
Emmy's paper dress with my wallpaper 'Copying the Moon' during our forrest exhibition
Paper 'panel' at home
Detail from 'View on the Linie', stencil swan on nest first used for tree-carpet 'A walk around the Pond'
Detail from Vlisco expressing the African proverb 'Only a good mother knows what her childeren will eat'
Detail from Pagi-Sore Batik, c. 1950 by Liem Siek Hien**

* Dutch phrase; "In mei leggen alle vogels een ei"

** Pagi-Sore batik by Liem Siek Hien from Greg Roberts collection, photo from his blog North Coast Javanese Batik, www.northcoastjavanesebatik.com. You can find more photos of this beautiful batik in the post 'A Pekalongan Batik Made in the kudus style'

*** For more about my collaboration with Emmy Dijkstra visit our blog www.edijkstra.wordpress.com

**** From Free Dictionary

May 16, 2013

BatikFashionPhotoShoot

Tony van Room & Talitha

On 21 of april I planned to make Batik Statements** of the public that visited the Indonesian Cultural Festival in Best. Preparing the Batik Statement Fashionshow* took more time than planned. After the fashionshow a lot of people came by my Batik Statement corner to ask questions about batik, how I knotted the batik-pants and how I came to love Batik so much. And to take a closer look at the beautiful Batik Chic products.
My Batik Statements
Koen de Wit posing so I could check my frame and light
My Batik Statements corner with the beautiful products by Batik Chic
And with Batik books and fabrics

The day passed and in the process I only made two official Batik Statements. But after the event self made-Batik Statements appeared on Facebook. I was so happy to see that my Batik Statement corner was well used during my absence! Thanks Erni Hendriks for sharing these photos!


* More about my first Batik Statement Fashionshow in the previous post 'Batik Statement Fashionshow'

** More Batik Statements under the label 'Batik Statement'

May 2, 2013

Batik Statement Fashionshow


Group-photo by Dhanti Hajdenborg, representative of Batik Chic in the Netherlands

On Sunday 21 april I organized my first 'Batik Statement Fashionshow' during the Indonesian Cultural Festival at Best.
Rob Rosielle borrowed me his mothers Batik collection. His mother, Madame Rosielle-Bergsma is the granddaughter of Maria Paulina Carp, a batikmaker from Pekalongan during the Batik Belanda period (see blogpost 'Give honor to whom it’s due'). Very special to get the opportunity to use these batiks. I used them in the fashionshow to 'frame' the models to create a Batik Statement on stage. My male models Koen de Wit and Mickel van der Heijden hold the 'vintage' batiks behind the models.
Batik Chic provided a part of their Batik Tulis collection, the bags, the pretty clutch and the batiks Koen and Mickel wore, for the fashionshow, lucky me! It really added a great flair to the fashioshow, great to show these beautiful products by Batik Chic in the Batik Statement Fashionshow.

As soundtrack for the fashionshow I chose the song 'Who run the world' by Beyoncé.
My choice for this song was because the Cultural Indonesian Festival was held on Kartini day. Raden Adjeng Kartini (21 april 1879 - 17 september 1904) was a prominent Javanese and an Indonesian national heroine. Kartini was a pioneer in the area of women's rights for Indonesians.
After Raden Adjeng Kartini died, Mr J. H. Abendanon, the Minister for Culture, Religion and Industry in the East Indies, collected and published the letters that Kartini had sent to her friends in Europe. The book was titled "Door Duisternis tot Licht" (Out of Dark Comes Light) and was published in 1911. It went through five editions, with some additional letters included in the final edition, and was translated into English by Agnes Louise Symmers and published under the title "Letters of a Javanese Princess".*
To prepare for the 21th of april I bought that last edition, that was first published in 1920.

The time was ripe. It has been said that great men are products of great movements. There must always be some one to strike the note of leadership, so firmly convinced of righteousness of a given cause that he or she goes blindly forward, forgetful of personal interest and of all selfish considerations, combatting the world if need be, holding its ridicule as of no account; and what is perhaps hardest of all, bringing sorrow and disappointment to those that love them.
- Agnes Louise Symmers


The Kartini day also gave me the opportunity to honor the Batikmakers from the Batik Belanda period, like Maria Paulina Carp, Lien Metzelaar and Eliza van Zuylen. With their own Batikworkshops they were really ahead of their time. Maybe it wasn't feministic ideology, but more due to circumstances that made them run their own business, but never the less it is really inspiring. And we can still learn a lot from them! So who run the world? Right ;)!

For more photos of the Batik statement Fashionshow visit my website www.sabinebolk.nl/2013/05/batik-statement-fashionshow


Photo by Rahma


Photo by Ryvo Octaviano


Photo by Dhanti Hajdenborg


Photo by Yvonne Bolk


Photo by Ryvo Octaviano


Photo by Ryvo Octaviano


Photo by Dhanti Hajdenborg


Photo by Ryvo Octaviano


Photo by Dhanti Hajdenborg


Photo by Yvonne Bolk


Photo by Dhanti Hajdenborg


Photo by Ryvo Octaviano


Photo by Rahma

* Information from Wikipedia