What is Batik art?
Batik Fabrics are among the most popular, beautiful, and ancient painting on fabrics in the world!
Each Batik work is original and handmade. It’s a form of artistic expression that consists of drawing with hot wax on the fabric and dyeing it with different colors, giving it the color, texture, and enchanting beauty, that reflects the culture and remembers tribal rituals and symbols.
It is an Ancient Art that had its birth in Indonesia and arrived in West Africa, through the hands of the Dutch as of the 19th century. Over time, the Batik art becomes a cultural instrument, reflecting an exuberant culture of Africa, with its prints and contrasts. After the Age of Discovery, more countries experienced this art of changing fabrics and developed it as their techniques and patterns. The Batik process was declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009 by UNESCO.
Africans from Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia figured out how to extract natural dyes from plants and dye them on fabrics. The first pieces were very simple, with no complex shapes and a limited range of colors. It was the first step of African Art batik as an African art culture.
The Batik art remains until today without suffering changes in the process of elaboration. The process requires a great concentration and ability to preview the final result, while the sequential phases of dyeing and application of the wax are processed.
In Mozambique, Batik is one of the most developed art forms in the country, displayed in centers and craft fairs …
This colorful Batik painting is the most developed art form in Mozambique. It is exhibited in craft fairs and centers, and produced almost exclusively by male masters called “batiqueiros”. The Batik masters are the transmitters of culture to the youngest boys who start early in this form of urban art, giving them a passion, a way of living and also integrating them into society.
Traditionally, Batik art represents wildlife, rural daily life, women, family, work, dance, musical instruments, myths, and legends, with the application of colors that are also strong and highly symbolic. Gradually, new types of interpretation and language applied to the Batik technique appear, the result of new dynamics and influences of globalization and opening to new markets.
Batik painting requires the use of a tool called tjanting that allows the wax to be applied to the fabric. It is a kind of copper funnel that preserves small amounts of hot wax. The Tjanting allows the execution of delicate contours and designs. The hot wax can also be applied using a metal stamp, called tjap, which is mostly used in Asia.
