jogja Heritage

REVIVING IMOGIRI FOLK BATIK YOGYAKARTA, INDONESIA

Bantulan Batik, One of the Biggest Potential of Imogiri DistrictImogiri District in Bantul Regency, 12 kilometres south of Yogyakarta is an important cultural landscape heritage where the Royal Cemetery Complex located the hill since 15 C, many traditional houses, and the home of the batik craft small scale industry.

Traditional batik painting Bantulan is one of the biggest potential of the Imogiri district in Bantul, Yogyakarta. Most of the crafters inherited the skills from their family for hundreds of years. There were about 900 groups of batik crafters in Imogiri, consist of both old and young people organized in groups of crafters; overall there were 4,500 crafters in Imogiri. Since ancient time, the Bantulan batik from Imogiri had influenced in many parts of Central Java region such as Tegal, Bayat, Semarang.
Two decades ago Bantulan batik declined. Most crafters have shifted batik painting as their second job instead of their main occupation. There were only several active batik crafters group. The declining batik market had slowed the crafters down, as well as the skills. The younger generation had lost their interest in batik craft.
The condition slightly changed when Ms. Jogopertiwi kept trying to develop the existence of Imogiri batik in 1990s. Young generation interests were increased. She received an Upakarti Award from the President of Indonesia for her efforts. Unfortunately, she passed away in 2002. In the year 2005, the Friends of Indonesian Batik “Sekar Jagad” established the Imogiri Eco-museum Batik “Joglo Ciptowening” dedicated to Ms. Jogopertiwi. The museum was opened by Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, and has exhibited various types of batik patterns from Imogiri and its surrounding areas since then.