Batik Expo — 4 April 2025Pulang
“To go home”
Batik Expo — 4 April 2025Pulang
“To go home”
Batik Expo — 4 April 2025Pulang
“To go home”
The Story
Growing up in Singapore from ages 2 to 13, I felt like I belonged. The vibrant customs, the social fabric, the food— it imprinted deeply on me. My body thrived on the flavors and smells of Southeast Asia, and I carried its rhythms in my heart. I felt Singaporean. But the world saw me as an expat, never fully belonging to the place that felt like home. When I returned to the Netherlands, I was lost. I looked Dutch, but I didn’t feel it. I felt more Asian than European, and yet, I didn’t quite fit there either. Coming back to the Netherlands felt like being uprooted, as though I had to learn all over again how to exist in a place I was supposed to call my own.
That struggle of feeling displaced, of not knowing where I truly belonged—became a central thread in my work.
I inherited a batik stamp from my grandfather, a piece of my Indonesian roots and a symbol of colonial history that I’ve come to understand as part of me. This project is an extension of that inheritance. I take the traditional batik stamp, with all its intricate patterns, and press it into clay, much like how society presses its marks into us, shaping who we are without our consent. The clay absorbs the pattern just as I’ve absorbed the cultural imprints of my upbringing in Singapore, my time in the Netherlands, and the legacy of colonialism that flows through both.