Indonesian Women Art: Sandang Sanding Agraria
WTC 3 Lobby, 3 March – 30 May 2025
Weaving the Best from the Past into the Present for the Future
Nusantara is home to thousands of textile traditions born from the close relationship between people and nature. From the coast to the hinterlands, each agrarian community developed textiles not only to meet physical needs, but also as a system of knowledge attentive to the environment, climate, social structures, culture, and economy. In Tuban, clothing is closely tied to farming culture, where the cycle of planting, tending, and harvesting demanded collective labor as part of the production chain. Textiles function as markers of age, gender, profession, ritual, and social solidarity, with philosophical roots in systems of cultivation.
In recent times, modernization and mass production have threatened the continuity of these traditions. Knowledge once passed down through generations is now at risk of disappearing. Sekar Kawung, as a social enterprise, believes that sustaining textile culture fosters agroecology — a balance between humans and nature — while opening pathways for regenerative economies. Through long-term research in Tuban weaving villages, and by studying archives including the notes of Rens Heringa on farming and textiles in Tuban, Sekar Kawung revives these practices in contemporary forms.
Since 2017, Sekar Kawung has presented exhibitions on textile culture from across Nusantara — from Sumba in Jakarta, to Tuban in Singapore and Yogyakarta — exploring themes of spirituality, symbolism, and bio-cultural diversity. From September 2025 to February 2026, ISA Art and Art at WTC, Jakarta Land, supported Sekar Kawung in presenting the results of its participatory action research on agrarian textile traditions. These works remind us that amid the dominance of fast fashion, Nusantara’s agrarian textiles teach us that clothing is born from principles of harmony, sustainability, and self-reliance.
Weaving, in this context, is not only a technical skill but also a metaphor — interlacing the past, present, and future into a continuous thread of enduring knowledge.
Researchers and Curators
Chandra Kirana & Karina Roosvita
Sekar Kawung Foundation
