Batik Kelautan

Last December my aunt (whose husband is one of the officials) asked me to create a marine-themed batik for the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries' annual product exhibition. I consider this as a big responsibility, even if the fabric will be mass-produced as a trading commodity, because traditionally a batik pattern was made with certain philosophical meaning.

Firstly I decide to consult the official Ministry of Marine and Fisheries' website to learn about Indonesian maritime and fisheries commodities. After searching for relevant data and real images for several week, I decided to create the first pattern, consist of sea turtle, pearl oyster, squid, shrimp, fish, and crab batik-stylized images.

marine-themed batik pattern

The sea turtle was intended to be the reminder of how fragile the abundant resources of the sea is, and that we should protect it for the future generation. In the other hand, just like the common turtles, the sea turtle represent the longevity which suggest that the ministry will continue to protect the maritime resources forever.

The fish and the shrimp represent how they become the main resources for the fishery industries, either within the country or as the export commodities.

The Crab with its tough armor represents the will of the ministry to protect the resources within the Indonesian marine territory, together with the Navy, from any disturbance and intrusion that threaten the sovereignty of the marine territories.

At last, the pearl oyster represent the wonderful beauty of Indonesian undersea.

My aunt says that the pattern is fantastic, and each and every detail on the pattern still can be developed into new patterns. She also requested the batik patterns to be made in pastel colors. Thus, the pattern was developed into four new pattern with each of it's philosopical meaning.

the sea turtle batik pattern

the fish,shrimp,and algae batik pattern

the crab batik pattern

the pearl oyster batik pattern

 

The exhibition which was due on february 2011 got postponed to the mid of May 2011. I am kinda disappointed though, because I haven't received any profit from these batik pattern designs either. I haven't planning on any legal contract to be signed on my design projects between me and my client when this request was made, so I kinda have no power to demand my rights upon this pattern while it means soooo much to me (my first seriously made batik patterns) :(