Woven Worlds - Batak in the picture
The Batak people, inhabitants of the mountainous north of Sumatra (Indonesia), are well known for their time-honoured tradition of refined textile weaving. With two exhibitions, the Tropenmuseum introduces visitors to the intriguing culture of the Batak. ‘Woven Worlds’, the exhibition in the Park Hall, provides a survey of the techniques, the use and the collectors of Batak fabrics. In the exhibition ‘Batak in the Picture’, photographs are displayed of one of these collectors: Tassilo Adam. The hundreds of pictures that he took early last century offer a magnificent survey of the intriguing culture of the Batak.
Woven Worlds
Amsterdam’s Tropenmuseum stores a rich variety of Batak textiles, the result of one hundred and fifty years of collecting. The textiles reveal much about the history of this extraordinary Sumatran weaving tradition. Pre-colonial Batak life was steeped in magical and mystical thought. According to myth, the first weaver was a goddess from the Upper World who escaped an unfortunate marriage by sliding down her spun yarn to the seas of the Underworld. There she created the earth, the Middle World. Spinning and weaving practices are thus associated with the origins of Batak life. Research also suggests that the Batak weaving arts are among the most ancient of the Indonesian archipelago. The products of women’s hands, textiles became the medium par excellence for contact with the spirit world. They were treasured because they protected not just the body, but also the soul. In the century since colonial annexation, the weavers have successfully adapted their art to new economic and social circumstances, gradually transforming the fruits of their looms into items of commerce and fashion. In this way, they have re-invented their woven world.
The exhibit is set up chronologically and laid out in a circle, analogous to the continuous warp in the traditional Batak loom. For the Batak, these lengthwise threads symbolize the cycle of life from birth to death, from planting to harvest, from the beginning of the year to year’s end. In the exhibit, the cycle represents the Tropenmuseum’s collection history: from the pre-colonial past (H.N. van der Tuuk), through the heyday of collecting in the early decades of the twentieth century ( J.E. Jasper and T. Adam), to the globalized present (S. Niessen, guest curator of the exhibition). The collections of the four collectors each illustrate the passions and preoccupations of their times. Tropenmuseum collection and exhibition history is thus interwoven with Batak textile history.
Batak in the Picture
Even as a young man, Tassilo Adam (Munich 1878 – New York 1955) was interested in the Batak, perhaps from stories he had heard at school from German missionaries who worked in the area. He was just 21 years old when he left for Sumatra to work on a tobacco plantation. He spent all of his free time visiting the Batak. With the help of the Rhenish Mission and colonial officials he was able to win the trust of their leaders. These contacts allowed him to record many facets of the culture. Adam was to remain there, with only a short break, for more than 22 years. Then, for health reasons, he moved to the more civilized Java. In Yogyakarta, he applied himself to collecting objects and photographing and filming life in the Kraton, the palace of the Sultan. In the 1930s, in recognition of his knowledge and experience, he was made Curator of Asian Art and Culture in the Brooklyn Museum, New York.
Batak society has changed radically in 85 years. The photographs taken by Tassilo Adam constitute a unique source of information, not just for us, but also for the Batak themselves. The Tropenmuseum took the photographs back to the Batak and filmed their reactions especially for this exhibition.
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