Towards Sustainable Batik

It's obvious from my batiks that nature, the environment, and ecological and human relationships are important to me. Since first working in batik in the early 1990s I've attempted to consider my materials, tools, processes and their environmental and social implications. But my discoveries and actions tended to be disjointed - picking snippets up here and there rather than looking at and/or researching the full picture.

And so… since 2007 I've been looking into all aspects of my practice, with a blog to record progress and musings. More formal research and findings are on this website, including the recently published article about soda ash. After all, ecologic sustainability requires cooperation not competition as its foundation.

Issues for investigation include:

• water
• carbon
• energy
• production/source (tools & materials)
• waste/resource (tools & materials)
• transportation
• pollution
• consumerism, fair trade and social
• economic implications

Areas of practice for investigation include:

• batik process
• product and purpose
• exhibiting
• teaching, lecturing and talks
• working premises
• professional practice
• work/home lifestyle
• purpose of art

Batik is one of the world's oldest living crafts and artforms. That it has survived so long, adapting and evolving along the way, and still is made in many parts of the world by both traditional and contemporary means suggests it has some wisdom to yield about sustainability. I hope I can find that path.