IBU ISTIKOMAH — JARIK GENDHAGAN

Ibu Istikomah
Born 1985, Batang, Indonesia

JARIK GENDHAGAN (2025)
100% Cotton, synthetic dyes
Hand-drawn wax resist on machine-woven cotton
256 x 102cm

Gendhagan — the Rifa'iyah batik motif featuring the tree of life, or pohon hayat — is also the Batang dialect word for courting or dating, much to the amusement of local artists.

The pohon hayat carries a layered history in Java. Its roots reach into Hindu-Buddhist cosmology long before the arrival of Islam: the kalpataru, the divine wish-granting tree, appears in the 8th century stone bas-reliefs of Pawon temple in Central Java, understood as the axis mundi connecting earth, heaven and the underworld. The same tree recurs across the archipelago — as the gunungan of Javanese wayang shadow puppetry, and as the sacred waringin (banyan) at the centre of the alun-alun (town square) of almost every Javanese city. Protected not by law but by belief, these trees remain, centuries after the arrival of Islam, the spiritual anchor of public life.

The gendhagan motif is also traditionally used as a bridal offering cloth (hantaran pengantin), carrying associations of blessing and the promise of new life.

Through these tree compositions, the artist has woven floral bouquets and phoenix-like birds constructed from leaves and fruits — their forms dissolved into the foliage in the samaran manner, suggested rather than stated.

The long edges are finished with tumpal — upward-pointing triangles symbolising creation and the sacred mountain peaks where earthly and spiritual realms converge — set against a field of truntum-like stars. Their tiny forms, resembling jasmine buds scattered across a night sky, were drawn night after night, a quiet declaration of love. Truntum, from the Javanese tumaruntum, means 'to blossom again.'

Decorative vines run through the border panels, anchoring a composition that ranges from the cosmic to the intimate.

Ibu Istikomah (Ibu Itamah)

Born and raised in Batang on the north coast of Central Java, Ibu Istikomah, known to most as Ibu Itamah, is an accomplished batik artist and trader. At present she makes batik nyambi (part-time), fitting it around selling chickens, cooking and trading at the market.

May Batik Rifa'iyah continue to prosper and become ever more celebrated throughout the world — and may there always be a next generation of makers who are dedicated to this art... Ibu Itamah, June 2026