Indian Batik Pictures In City

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31316, 11 March 1967, Page 2

Indian Batik Pictures In City

Batik pictures, now a thriving art form in India, were introduced to Christchurch this week by a visitor from Bombay, Miss Diana Balemi. Produced on cloth by a wax and dye technique in the rich, brilliant colours of stained glass, the pictures had the quality and texture of oil paintings.

AU are originals. The collection includes works by Mr Jyotirindra Roy, a pioneer in the field and founder of the Bombay School of Batik Painting. One of the pictures is by Miss Balemi, a pupil of Mr Joy.

Ths origin of batik is credited to Indonesia. The technique was introduced to India 35 years ago in the textile design industry and samples of it can be seen in awnings over shops and dress fabrics in many parts of the country. It was not used as an art form in India until 1961, when Mr Roy opened his training centre in Bombay. And it was six months before he could persuade his first student to enrol. Today his problem is accommodating all who want to join the school. The students use the batik process on table linen, lampshades and saris as well as for murals and pictures.

The third exhibition of students’ work was held in Bombay last June. Mr Roy’s name as an artist spread to Europe and he was invited to exhibit in the Monte Carlo International Arts Guild Festival last year.

Explaining the technique of batik yesterday, Miss Balemi said that the design or composition was transferred to the cloth, the basic colour was applied and the material was treated with a mixture of parafln wax and resin. “The wax prevents the dyes from

running into one another," she said.

Then the material was dipped' into the first colour, which was allowed to dry and treated with wax, she said. This process was repeated for as many colours as the picture required After the last

colour was fixed, the picture was boiled to remove the wax and set the colours. “This is the first time batik pictures have come out of India in any number and the first time they have been shown in New Zealand,” she. said.

Miss Baiemi has already sold several in New Zealand at prices ranging up to £4O. One of the most beautiful she had in her collection yesterday is panel-shaped, 22 by 54 inches, priced at £35.

Miss Baiemi, who sold her ' coffee lounge in Hamilton to I open a home for destitute . children in Bombay two years ! ago, said proceeds from the • sales and orders would go toi wards establishing a batik training centre. This will be

the 1967 project for her Door of Hope Society in Bombay. WORK FOR DESTITUTE “The aim of the centre is to create employment for men and women who have no work and are living in the streets of Bombay,” she said. “The emphasis will be on giving the trainees self-sufficiency and self-respect instead of begging for their livelihoods." Work will be sold for as little as £5 to £l5. When the centre is well established, Miss Baiemi hopes to send an exhibition to New Zealand to show supporters of the project. Batik had not taken on as an art in the Western world because it was slow to do and very time-consuming, she said. A little was being done as a cottage industry in Davis, California, but in a primitive form.

Although her two months* visit to her homeland had been an exhausting round of speaking engagements, it had been wonderful to be back in New Zealand and to find so much good will for her work in Bombay, she said. “Nevertheless, I am already looking forward to going back. The work is so very satisfying and rewarding—a tremendous challenge that I could never give up,” Miss Baiemi said.