Timor: Totems and Tokens
Image credit: Tais Sela (horse blanket). Warp Ikat, East Timor, Suai Loro. Covalima, 1940s © Pusaka Collection of Indonesian Ikat Textiles.
Until 15th March, Museu do Oriente in Lisbon, Portugal, will exhibit a group of ikat textiles from West and East Timor in an exhibition titled, Timor: Totems and Tokens. 65 examples of ikat textiles from across the island will be showcased, with the majority coming from Peter ten Hoopen’s Pusaka Collection, a smaller number from the Fundação Oriente and the Georges Breguet collection. Most of the textiles are early 20th century pieces, but a few are earlier, giving visitors a glance into a period when ikat textiles were made for local and ceremonial use.
Image credit: © Peter ten Hoopen, Pusaka Collection of Indonesian Ikat Textiles, Timor: Totems and Tokens, Museu Fundação Oriente.
The exhibition includes circa twenty examples from Timor-Leste, a former colony with which Portugal still maintains close ties. The long period of political unrest in East Timor during World War II and again after the departure of the Portuguese in 1974 caused much of its textile heritage to be destroyed, so the chance to see a substantial group of older specimens represents a rare opportunity. The exhibition will live on in the 176-page catalogue Timor: Totems and Tokens, edited by Peter ten Hoopen with contributions by Jill Forshee, Pierre Dugard, Georges Breguet and Linda S. McIntosh.
Image credit: © Peter ten Hoopen, Pusaka Collection of Indonesian Ikat Textiles, Timor: Totems and Tokens, Museu Fundação Oriente.
The Pusaka Collection, a private non-profit organisation, has a narrow focus on ikat textiles from Indonesia. Unlike most collections, generally based on a selection of stellar pieces from a limited number of localities, the Pusaka Collection aims to show the region's ikat culture, using antique and vintage examples made with traditional methods. It spans the arc of the Indonesian archipelago, from Sumatra in the west till the Moluccas in the east and reaches beyond Indonesia's borders to include the Malaysian state of Sarawak and the Democratic Republic of East Timor.
For more information about the exhibition visit Museu do Oriente. For more information about the catalogue, visit the Pusaka Collection.