Anekanta
2024
Crocheted cotton thread dyed with batik (wax resist) method 144cmW x 63cmH
Ekanta
2024
Archival art print on cotton rag paper
144cmW x 63cmH
Presented at ARTSG 2025 with Art Outreach Singapore, with support from The Institutum
Text by: Tan Siuli
Anekanta (‘not one’ or ‘many sided’) and Ekanta (‘one’) were created after a residency at Lohjinawi in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, an initiative by curator Alia Swastika to connect artists with the local community and artisans. During her time there, Jin Mei had the opportunity to study traditional crafts such as wayang kulit (shadow puppetry) and batik (textile created with a wax-resist technique), in addition to deepening her understanding of Indonesian history and culture— in particular the rhythms of agrarian life that inform various myths and collective beliefs, which in turn were harnessed for political agendas.
Created with the European filet crochet technique, the work is first realised as a pure white tapestry, referencing the white lace adopted by Dutch colonisers in their dress as a marker of their status and affluence. The tapestry then undergoes a dyeing process, staining it with a deep blue hue that brings to mind the precious indigo batiks that were at one time reserved for royalty, while its floral patterns make reference to the buketan (bouquet) motif popularised by Indo-European ladies – a result of the cross-pollination of cultures and aesthetics between Indonesia and the Netherlands.
Jin Mei has chosen to present the tapestry in a manner akin to a wayang performance, or shadow play, where a piece of fabric acts as a scrim on which to project and enact narratives and illusions. When illuminated, a new image hidden within the tapestry is revealed: the figure of Dewi Sri, the Goddess of rice and fertility, flanked by a pair of nagas. Presiding over the field, Dewi Sri is worshipped by a row of farmers, some with fists raised, and others bowed in supplication with scythes in hand: symbols of revolution, resolve, and independence. This tableau recalls former President Suharto’s Green Revolution, which aimed to achieve self-sufficiency for newly-independent Indonesia, although this socially and ecologically aggressive agricultural policy was not without its costs.
Textiles serve as tactile archives of exchange and influence, their materials and motifs enfolding multi-layered histories of trade, conquest, desire, and self-determination. Anekanta and Ekanta weave together Indonesia’s rich traditions, its colonial past and cultural exchanges, as well as its more recent nationalist ideologies. At a time when notions of ‘nation’ and ‘identity’ are becoming increasingly circumscribed, Anekanta and its companion piece Ekanta are reminders of the multiplicity of perspectives that individuals and communities negotiate – the ‘many’ embedded in the ‘one’, and the fragments held in the whole.
Installation photography credit: Art Outreach Singapore
Images 10 - 12: Ekanta (Photos shot before dyeing lace)