IBU MAISAROH, SARONG RELAWATI SISIK UNGGU

Ibu Maisaroh
Born 1985, Batang, Indonesia

SARONG RELAWATI SISIK UNGGU (2025)
100% cotton, synthetic dyes
Hand-drawn wax resist on machine-woven cotton
212 × 114 cm

This batik is rendered in two colours in the Relawati style, a Javanese woman’s name derived from rela (willing, open-hearted, generous of spirit), referring to the flowing floral design in the foreground of the kepala (head panel).

The badan (body of the cloth) is filled with flowers, kenari leaves (Java almond, Canarium sp.) and other leaf clusters suggestive of manuk hong (phoenix birds), set against a background of sisik / gringsing, an interlocking fish-scale motif.

The kenari (Canarium sp.) is a large tropical tree native to the Indonesian archipelago, producing edible almond-flavoured nuts. Its compound leaves, a central stem bearing multiple oblong leaflets, create the distinctive layered forms visible throughout the composition. It is associated in Javanese tradition with abundance and natural generosity.

The kepala, displayed at the back when worn by men, and at the front by women, features a central bouquet of keladi leaves (inspired by taro or caladium), kangkung (water spinach, Ipomoea aquatica) and lancur-type leaves suggesting both pandan and rooster plumage. Oversized kembang mawar tanah (rose forms) animate the composition, and the background fill is a dense krokotan-style curl motif (purslane vine). At the peak of the kepala, a large flower issues a spray of slim leaves with broad, eye-like tips, evoking peacock tail plumage without depicting the bird.

Throughout the cloth, leaf forms appear as wing-like silhouettes. Referred to as sawut mati (lifeless wings), this is a common Rifa’iyah device in which wing forms are separated from any living body, honouring the Sufi prohibition on depicting whole living creatures.

The border features udang samaran (abstracted shrimp rendered as curving botanical forms) encircling the wearer with their symbolism of adaptability and wisdom.

Ibu Maisaroh

Ibu Maisaroh learned batik tulis from her mother, Ibu Juriyah — herself a celebrated Rifa’iyah artist — and mastered the artform by the age of fifteen. Batik is her consuming passion: she dedicates the greater part of her life to her practice. Her works consistently push beyond the expected, offering something at the next level of intricacy, inventiveness and spiritual depth. For this reason, they are highly sought after.