Tiki Ikat

Indonesian and Australian Aboriginal Textile Art

When Joe Fischer wrote in a catalogue for an exhibition of contemporary Indonesian painting that the West's interest has been 'in the traditional, the exotic, the sacred and the ancient at the expense of our understanding and appreciation of the present',¹ he also accurately described Western attitudes to Indonesian textile art. Western perceptions until recently have focused largely on the great historical legacy of Indonesian textile art, with exhibitions emphasising tradition rather than contemporary dynamism.