‘Mbaka Satitik: Ritualization of From’ Exhibition at John Hardy Seminyak

Continually advocating the celebration of cultural heritage, the John Hardy Boutique and Gallery, Seminyak presents its latest exhibition showcase entitled ‘Mbaka Satitik: Ritualization of From’, a solo exhibition by artist-in-residence, A. Sebastianus Hartanto.

Available from 8 June to 31 August 2024, the exhibition sees Hartanto pay tribute and incorporate two generational memory-preservation methods: photography and batik, the Javanese wax-resist dye technique. Described by Hartanto as ‘studies’, these works examine the shape of ‘being’, its many layers, and its constitution. Pixelated image particles symbolise Hartanto’s memories and belongings, imprinted on cloth and waxed before the fabric is dipped into dye.

In his artist residency at John Hardy, the innovative artist reveals the ritualization of the batik process as his sacred act of memorialising his ‘froms’. A practice he refers to as ‘Mbaka Satitik’, interpreted as ‘until/from one point to another’, as every dot (titik) of batik epitomises a point of time, moments within a memory, “a particle of my body, of my from.”

Mbaka Satitik encompasses four rites of passage, where the transformation of the cloth illustrates the body in metamorphosis: Nyuci (purification), Nyanting (meditation/contemplation), Nyelup (absorption), and Nglorod (sublimation).

To Hartanto, re-sacralising batik is to recover the forgotten tradition of ritualising craft and mythicizing the art of making. Hartanto’s years of fundamental experiences with the craft elicit new purposes and becomings; allowing the practice (Mbatik) to be a divine portal to his past, present, and future, a way to comprehend the cosmological matrix to the varying truths of his belonging.

Open daily from 11am to 9pm, entry to the exhibition is free, where visitors of the John Hardy Gallery, Seminyak can marvel at the art and installations adorned in the interiors of the space from 8 June to 31 August 2024. In conjunction with the exhibition, the gallery will host a hands-on workshop and artist talk, along with social events, gathering the community to celebrate art and Indonesian culture.