Indonesia Promotes Batik At The 2022 World Cup

Liputan6.com, Doha - The batik exhibition is becoming a part of the World Cup 2022 in Qatar is more than about football, but also culture. Indonesian batik is also taking part in the cultural festive in Qatar's cultural village.

The Indonesian Embassy in Doha featured Batik at the event held by the Katara Cultural Village Foundation Qatar. The event was a collaboration with several embassies in Qatar. Indonesia presents the "The Exotic Indonesia Batik Exhibition".

The exhibition event was held at Building 47 Katara from 1-8 December 2022 for 10 AM in the morning until 10 PM at night.

Indonesian Minister for Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno was also involved to open this exhibition during his working visit to Qatar on Thursday, 1 December 2022

According to the release from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Monday (12/12), Sandiaga said that the Indonesian government was seriously paying attention to the development of batik in the country.

Batik was praised not just as a honorable culture, but also has a significant economic effect.

Also present at the opening was the Director of the Katara Cultural Village Foundation Khalid al-Sulaiti and the Indonesian Ambassador to Qatar Ridwan Hassan.

"This is a government-led initiative to help the country's creative industries recover from the effects of COVID-19," said Ambassador Ridwan.

The exhibition displayed around 42 pieces of batik fabrics from all regions of the Indonesian archipelago. Moreover, exhibition also offered visitors the experience of making batik with the traditional stamping and painting tools.

There is also piece of World Cup-themed batik specially made for this exhibition. The batik spent up to eight months to make.

The batik contains the words "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022" and the illustration of the World Cup trophy. It is also decorated with various Qatari artistic accents, such as the dallah or the iconic teapot in the Corniche area, pearl shells which are the icon of The Pearl area, falcons, and the building of the Katara cultural complex, which surrounds by the silhouettes of people playing soccer.

The President Director of Batik House Indonesia, Venny Alamsyah, acted as a curator for The Exotic Indonesian Batik Heritage Exhibition.

According to Venny, members of the Qatari royal family who visited the exhibition were very interested in owning the World Cup-themed batik. However, he had to inform them that it was not for sale.

The Qatari royal also expressed disbelief at the "cheap" since the Batik took so long in making.

"Even though I mentioned it will cost hundreds of millions of rupiahs, he even said how it could be so cheap for 7-8 months of work. They asked a lot of questions until I said it was not for sale," said Venny.

The Indonesian batik tradition itself has been deeply rooted in the lives of Indonesian people since the fifth century. It is confirmed as an intangible cultural heritage in 2009.

Each batik pattern has its own characteristics and is used in the sacred journey of human life, such as birth, marriage, and death.

Writer: Safinatun Nikmah.