Textile, Museum & Gallery

Objectives

To preserve and to promote the development of the traditional methods of the indigenous ikat weaving of the Iban.

The Weaving Project

Iban weaving is one of the major projects carried out by the Foundation. The project is also looking into ways of improving the value and quality of the woven textile. With modernization and the advent of new technologies, the traditional methods of Iban ikat weaving is being abandoned and only very few weavers are still using the traditional methods. In the traditional society, the Iban planted their own cotton which they spun into thread for making pua’. They used natural dyes like engkudu (morinda) and tarum (indigo) to dye their ikat pieces. The cotton that are dyed with morinda had to undergo a ngar ritual process where they are treated using a mordant bath.

The Iban people places great value on pua’ that has undergone ngar and dyed using morinda. Most of these pieces have the rich deep burgundy colour, and they are colourfast. The Foundation urges weavers who can perform the ngar to continue with the skill so that the knowledge is not lost. Not many people can perform the ngar, especially so nowadays, because it is not just a simple process. The process is not only highly technical, but it is also carried out with strict rituals, and there are many taboos to be adhered to. Most importantly, the ngar ritual must be led by a master dyer.

The Foundation maintains that the preservation of traditional patterns is also of utmost importance because they identify the Iban society. The Foundation however, is not adverse to the use of modern materials for making pua’ in as long as they do not eliminate the quality and identity of pua’. Imported cotton and silk has proven to be suitable material for making pua’. Silk can be dyed using morinda without undergoing the ngar process but they seldom achieve the rich deep burgundy colour. Cotton, however, can be dyed using other natural dye like engkerebai leaves, tarum (indigo) leaves and bark of sebangki tree, without going through the ngar process.

Perhaps one of the greatest problems faced by Iban weavers today is how to use chemical dye correctly so that the products can be colourfast. The Foundation is looking into ways of rectifying this problem and hopes to be able to help weavers achieve the desired colours that are colourfast. At the same time, the Foundation urges weavers to plant cotton, and natural dye plants like engkudu (morinda), engkerebai and renggat/tarum (indigofera). The department has achieved and hopes to achieve its objectives via the following:

• Local and international exhibitions
• Workshops, seminars, talks and lectures
• Weaving classes
• Weaving competitions
• Visits to places where there are weaving and weaving-related activities
• Joint research projects with academic institutions
• Joint projects with crafts organizations
• Providing resource centres for weaving
• Publications

The Department has successfully co-organized an international exhibition of Iban ikat fabrics and weaving demonstration, in the United States of America. It was jointly organized with the Muscarelle Museum of Art (College of William and Mary in Virginia, Williamsburg) and the National Science Foundation, USA, July - August 1998.

^{Pua Exhibition at Muscarelle Museum of Art (1998)}

 

 

 

 

 

On-going Projects / Activities

1. Ngar ritual projects

2. Natural dye projects

3. Weaving projects both at the Foundation and with weavers from Kapit

4. Malaysian Standard for Pua Ikat weaving, a project with SIRIM Berhad, Kuala Lumpur (commencing in 2005)

5. Talks for tourist guides, joint project with Sarawak Tourist Guides Association (commencing in 2006)

6. Storyboard on Iban ikat weaving for Muzium Tekstil, Kuala Lumpur (2006 – 2008)

 

Past Projects / Activities

1. Pua’ Workshop, Kuching. Kuching Crowne Plaza, 4th - 5th July, 1997

2. Pua’ Kumbu’ Competition and Forum, Kuching, 11th - 12th January, 1997

3. Ngar ritual at Matang, Kuching, 4th - 15th February 

4. Ties That Bind: Pua’ Ikat Exhibition, Muscarelle Museum of Art, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA, July - August ,1998

5. Visit to Rumah Ngumbang, Nanga Sumpa, Lubok Antu, 20th - 21st November, 1998

6. Colorfast dyes and standard dye recipe project with UNIMAS, 1998

7. Ngar at Rumah Kana, Nanga Lingah, Julau, 6th - 8th February, 1999

8. Ngar at Rumah Penghulu Belu, Merurun, Julau, 25th - 27th June, 1999

9. "Traditional and Natural” Pua’ Exhibition, held in conjunction with the International Ikat Weaving Forum, at the Tun Jugah Pua’ Gallery, 11th - 16th June, 1999

10. Official Launching of the Tun Jugah Pua Gallery, Level 4 Tun Jugah on 29th January, 2000

11. Pekit Pua' (Pua' Competition) held in conjunction with BRC Meeting, 10th - 14th July, 2000

12. Ngar at Matang, 21st - 27th January, led by Gading ak Mayau, 2000

13. Visit to Rumah Garie, Sungai Kain, Kapit, led by Datin Amar Margaret Linggi, 11th - 14th April, 2000

14. Exhibition of Tun Jugah Museum pua kumbu and other artifacts collection at Merdeka Palace, held in conjunction with Gawai Celebration, at Merdeka Palace Hotel Lobby, 25th May – 3rd June, 2002

15. Statewide Pua Kumbu Competition, Level 11 and Level 4, Tun Jugah, 22nd – 29th August, 2003

16. Short film Digital Video Documentary on Pua Kumbu wearing "Tenunan Iban" with MS. Lee Paik Gan, 2003

17. Indigo Dye Workshop, organized together with Threads of Life Indonesian Textile Arts Centre, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia, held at Level 4 Tun Jugah, 1st – 3rd September, 2004

18. Talk on Pua Kumbu for members of the Sarawak Tourist Guides Association (STGA), organized together with STGA, held at Level 4 Tun Jugah, 17th October, 2006

19. Talk on Iban Textile Weaving for members of the Sarawak Tourist Guides Association, organized together with STGA, held at Level 4 Tun Jugah, 3rd April, 2006

20. Talk on Iban Textile Weaving for members of the Tourist Guides Association from Selangor, West Malaysia, organized together with Sarawak Tourist Guides Association (STGA), held at Level 4 Tun Jugah, 19th April, 2007

21. Talk, Demonstration on Iban Ikat Weaving and, Promotion of Iban Ikat products at Yayasan Seni Berdaftar, Kuala Lumpur, 10th – 17th August, 2007

22. Setting up a Memorial Gallery at Foundation in memory of the late Datin Amar Margaret Linggi, in honour of the privotal role she played in the preservation and the continuity of the Iban art of ikat weaving, 20th November 2008.

23. Sale of crafts and books and, 24. Conducting Pua weaving demonstration at Urban Roots 2009, a pre Gawai Showcase / bazaar, held at Cold Storage, Green Heights Mall, Kuching, 23rd to 24th May 2009.

^{Pua Workshop (4-5 July 1997)}

^{Pua Kumbu Competition 2000}

^{Miss Tourism International 2001}

^{Indigo Dye Workshop (1-3 September, 2004)}

Datin Amar Margaret Linggi Pua’ Gallery

Mission Statement

“To preserve and to promote the traditional methods of Iban weaving, for the benefit of the community and the general public. To provide a greater understanding of Iban textiles and weaving tradition, both for local and international interests.”

^{Sereni, Celia Brooke, YBhg. Datuk Amar Linggi}

Galleries and Exhibits

There are five main galleries:

• Open Gallery : Datin Amar Margaret Linggi Memorial Gallery
• Gallery 1 : Display Gallery
• Gallery 2 : Weaving Gallery
• Gallery 3 : Tun Jugah Memorial
• Gallery 4 : Museum

Open Gallery – Datin Amar Margaret Linggi Memorial Gallery

This gallery is dedicated to the memory of the late Datin Amar Margaret Linggi, the Founder of the Gallery, who was a very keen and gifted weaver. She strongly advocated the preservation and continuity of the Iban art of traditional weaving. She also played a privotal vote in the research and preservation of Iban ikat weaving. Exhibits include photographs and woven items made by her.

Gallery 1 - Display Gallery

This gallery exhibits weaving tools, implements, and raw materials used in textile weaving. The other exhibits found in this gallery are complementary items like brassware. The weaving looms on display shows the various stages in the textile weaving process.

Gallery 2 - Weaving Gallery

This gallery shows live weaving demonstrations by weavers who come to the Foundation to learn, demonstrate, and to weave their own pieces. The demonstrations show various weavers at work using the back-strap loom, doing various types of weavings and at various stages of the weaving processes. The following pages are the summary of the basic process in pua’ ikat making.

A. Preparation of yarn (from home-grown cotton taya’)

• Planting of cotton on plots (tempalai) of farmland.
• Harvesting of cotton pods (usually within a year of sowing)
• Removing the husks and seeds by hand or by cotton gin (pemigi’)
• Drying and beating the cotton fibre using cotton beaters (pemalu’ taya’)
• Spinning the fibre using the spinning wheel (gasing)
• Mounting the threads onto the pengererak and winding it onto the Kalai (cotton stretcher) (niki’ ka ubung) (For processed commercial cotton ubung paut, the step starts from here)
• Nyikat (starching the yarn using rice gruel) followed by drying (for yarn that are to be treated in a mordant bath, the yarn will only be starched after the ngar process)
• Winding the thread into balls

^{Wild cotton pods (Taya')}

^{Beating the cotton fibre}

^{Preparing cotton}

^{Starching the yarn}

^{Winding the threads into balls}

B. Ngar Ritual (treatment of yarn using a mordant bath)

(This process is necessary if morinda is to be used for dyeing the yarn. If other natural dyes are used instead, for example, engkerebai, sebangki, and tarum, this process is omitted). The process vary depending on each Ngar leader, however, basic ingredients are almost similar - kepayang (pangium edule) oil, ginger, lengkuas (alpinia officinarum) and garam apung/bangkung (nipah salt). The process normally varies in terms of measurements, implements/tools, procedures, taboos, and rituals adhered to.

Ngar is the process of measuring out ingredients for the mordant bath used for preparing the yarn, as prescribed by sets of ritual process. The ceremony is referred to as `kayau indu’, which means `women’s warfare’. It is almost synonymous to warriors going to war and fighting enemies. It is essentially a private ritual, and the ngar leader, as the `war leader’, has to be as courageous and daring as any warrior, in order to be able to control the unseen and dangerous forces present at the ritual. She is a woman who is able to judge the correct quantities for the mordant bath and the dyeing solution. The whole process takes between one to two weeks to complete. It is an elaborate, difficult and tedious process. The correct measurement is essential to the success of the dyeing process with engkudu, which is to achieve the deep red colour.

^{Preparing the ingredients}

^{Measuring the ingredients}

^{Immersing the yarn into the mordant bath}

^{Putting the yarn out in the sun to dry and to take in the dew at night}

C. Preparing the warp

• Ngirit (Warping) This process is done on the back-strap loom, performed by at least two persons. One of them has to sit on the floor in front of the breast beam facing the loom, to sort and count the threads using five laze rods (lidi). The other person winds the ball of thread (placed in a coconut shell) around the whole stretch of the loom. The five laze rods are lidi karap, lidi lebungan, lidi tulang perabung, lidi belebas, and another lidi belebas.
• Ngarap (selecting of alternate warps using nylon threads which are held together by a heddle rod)
• Negi (Weaving a small portion of the pua’ at one end to hold the piece together). (An equal portion of the other end of the pua’ will also be woven once the next step - ngachuk empelawa’ jeruk - has been effected)
• Ngachuk empelawa’ jeruk (A technical process of transferring the first two laze rods down to the base of the loom, to eliminate the process of picking or selecting the warp threads)
• Muai (To sort out the warp threads to enable the folding process. It is done in such a way that threads that are going to overlap in the folding process are grouped together so that when the warp is folded, the folds are of exact equal size)
• Nipan (folding) and mounting the folded yarn onto the tying frame.

^Ngirit

^Ngarap

^Negi

^Muai

D. Tying and Dyeing

^{Ngebat (Tying the designs)}

^Dyeing

^Mampul

^{Muka tanchang (Untying)}

• Milih lidi (sorting the yarn to be tied using two laze rods)
• Ngaga’ lentang and ngaga’ pemuchuk (making top stripes by tying)
• Nangkal or Ngepun ka buah (beginning the main design)
• Nanchang/Ngebat (tying) to create the design
• Dyeing with natural dyes (engkudu, engkerebai, sebangki)
• Mampul (to cover, by tying the parts that are to maintain the first colour)
• Ngerenggat or narum (dyeing with indigo, to colour the parts that were not tied)
• Muka’ tanchang (untying)
• Ngerembai (to unfold) the pua’ piece

E. Weaving (nenun) the lower and upper warp using the back-strap loom.

F. Cutting the division between the upper and lower pieces. Joining the two pieces by hand stitching, to form one piece of pua’.

Not all of the above process can possibly be demonstrated at the Gallery, for example, the planting of taya’ and the ngar process.

Some of the weaving materials and implements on display are:

• Taya’ (Home-grown cotton)
• Pemalu’ taya’ (Cotton beaters made of rattan)
• Gasing (Spinning wheel)
• Ubung paut (Imported cotton from China or India)
• Kalai/tukal (Cotton stretcher)
• Pengererak (A rotating wheel for plying threads)
• Tiang tenun (Loom stand)
• Tangga’ tenun (Loom frame)
• Tendai (Warp beam)
• Rakup (Breast beam)
• Karap (Heddle stick)
• Lidi (Laze rods)
• Belia’ (Beater or beater-in)
• Lebungan / Bebungan (Shed-stick)
• Jengkuan / turak (Spool shuttle)
• Temeran (Rope made from the bark of a tree)
• Sulat (Bodkin)
• Tachu’ (Half coconut shell)
• Tempaut /Sengkabit (Backstrap)
• Tangga’ ajan (Tying frame)
• Lemba’ (Curculigo villosa spp.; stripped and waxed)
• Lilin (Beeswax)
• Lungga’ (Small curved knife with long handle)

Other exhibits include yarn that has been dyed using chemical, and also natural dye. Also on display are natural dye materials:

• Engkudu roots (Morinda citrifolia. To produce a deep red colour)
• Engkerebai leaves (Psychotria spp. To produce red colour)
• Sebangki (Neesia spp. The bark of the sebangki tree produces red colour)
• Renggat / Tarum (Marsdenia tinctoria. Two types - tarum padi and tarum akar. To produce the indigo colour)

^{Renggat / Tarum (indigo leaves)}

^{Engkudu roots}

^Sebangki

Gallery 3 - Museum

The Museum and Gallery have a total collection of more than five hundred pieces of pua and other woven textiles. They formed the major part of the exhibits on display at the gallery. Costumes and accessories formed a smaller part of the collection.

The textiles collection is mostly ikat pieces, some sungkit and a few anyam. The ikat pieces are made from three major types of yarn material: taya’, ubung paut, and silk. The sungkit pieces in the collection are mostly heirloom pieces and are made from taya’, and woven using the old sungkit technique. Most of the ikat and sungkit pieces have been dyed in engkudu (morinda), and a few in other natural dye like engkerebai and sebangki. Most of the pua’ are rather old and their age are determined by the number of generations they have been in the family. Most heirloom pieces are between a hundred, and a hundred and fifty years old.

Gallery 4 - Tun Jugah Memorial

This Gallery was put up to perpetuate the memory of the late Tun Jugah. Exhibits include photographs, mementos, and other personal items of Tun Jugah.

Other Exhibits

These are complementary exhibits like heirloom jars, ceramics, brass artifacts, and beads. The role of these exhibits in the Gallery is significant because they form an integral part in the life of the Iban people.

Access

Opening Hours:

• Monday to Fridays 9 - 12 noon & 2 - 4 pm
• Closed on Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays
• Visitors are required to make prior arrangements or appointments to visit the Museum and Gallery. Photo taking without flash are allowed only in the Weaving Gallery but not in the other galleries.