Indonesian Batik Exhibition launches in Damascus

On the occasion of National Batik Day, the Indonesian Embassy in Damascus held on Sunday a Batik exhibition entitled “The Story of Indonesia through Colors and Patterns” at the Abou Rumaneh  cultural center in Damascus.

 Batik has been both an art and craft for the centuries and is part of Indonesian ancient tradition

Batik is made by drawing the pattern on the fabric with the pencil as design, using a traditional tool “canting” by dipping it into hot wax to resist the color to create pattern before putting color pigment .

The opening ceremony was opened on Sunday and will  last until 21st Of the current month included opening of an exhibition of traditional Indonesian fabrics “Batik”, in addition to, distributing certificates to38 Syrian students  who graduated after following a course of Indonesian language.

The activity was attended by the Indonesian Ambassador, Mr. Wajid Fawzi, his wife Mrs Radianti Fawzi. Minister of Education Dr. Darem Al-Tabbaa, and his wife, and Mr. Nazih Issa Khoury, advisor and representative of the Minister of Culture, Mrs. Rabab Ahmad, Head of the Center, and a number of delegations from Arab and foreign embassies in Syria

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Mr. Wajid Fawzi,the Indonesian Ambassador to Damascus, said that “language and art are very important parts of culture because they play a major role in building bridges of communication between cultures. Therefore, the Indonesian Embassy pays great importance to these activities to enrich culture between the two countries, and strengthen relations between Syria and Indonesia”.

Minister of Education Dr. Darem Al-Tabbaa, praised the role of languages and its importance in familiarizing people with cultures of other people, and in deepening relations, explaining that holding such exhibitions contributes to the heritage exchange between the two countries.

Rabab Ahmad, the director of the Arab Cultural Center in “Abu Rummaneh” pointed out that the relations between Syria and Indonesia are old and various including economic, social, educational, cultural and political relations.

In her turn Mrs. Radianti Fawzi the wife of the Indonesian Ambassador said to Syria Times: “We hope this exhibition will attract local people so that they know better about Indonesia and its culture

“The purpose of this Batik Exhibition is to introduce Indonesian Batik, specifically hand-drawn batik as one of Indonesian culture and heritage to Syrian people. During the Exhibition we also launched the book of the Indonesian Hand-drawn Batik into two languages, English and Arabic,  to enable Syrian people to read it and know better about the process of making Batik and the story behind it.  For Indonesian, preserving  batik is not only appreciating our culture and conserving heritage, but it is also our national identity, and it  drives small businesses (batik producer) to contribute to the strength of our national economic” Mrs Fawzi said.

Hence, the embassy believes that by promoting our  culture and by sharing the knowledge and creativity in making Batik is a way of enhancing friendship between the people of two countries which in the end will benefit our beloved countries, Syrian and Indonesia” She added.

It is worthy to mention that in 2021, the Indonesian Embassy in Damascus held  three activities related to Indonesian batik to  in order to continue introducing the Indonesian culture.

Investigated by : Nada Haj Khidr