HISTORY OF AFRICAN BATIK

Of course, this doesn’t quite explain how, or when, batik arrived in Africa. Dutch Scholar Ineke van Kessel suggests the fabrics came from India to West Africa by land, not sea, over the ancient trans-Saharan routes. Local populations like the Yoruba in Nigeria incorporated aspects of the wax printing into their tradition textiles, and little by little the trend caught on. When the Dutch and English began trolling the coast of West Africa in the seventeenth century, they brought their wax (wax batiks) and non-wax (roller print) fabrics, targeting a local population already poised for their consumption. In time, European textile designers began developing prints targeting their African market, tweaking designs down to each region and port.

Batik, in its original handcrafted form, and its derivative roller print (often confusingly called real Dutch wax print) are ubiquitous and highly cherished across West Africa today. Prints range from abstract geometry to figurative images, and beyond. For many men and women, the patterns are a form of expression and even communication, announcing everything from their marital status and mood, to their political and religious beliefs. Up until the 1960s most wax prints were still produced in Europe, but in the post-colonial era, that all changed. Ghana boasts three of the finest wax print manufacturers in Africa: Woodin, GTP (sister of Vlisco in Holland), and ATL (sister of ABC textiles in Manchester). Unfortunately, legal and illegal Chinese and Nigerian copies have flooded the markets of late, and many, especially GTP, have seriously suffered.

The history of batik has evolved across cultures- you can read more here. Although the underlying concept of using layers of dye with a wax resist remains the same, how each artist achieves their finished textile may vary. The process we share here explains the materials and steps used by many Global Mamas batikers. Some steps are specific to our organization such as the laminated batik design templates we use to ensure consistency from one small workshop to the next. Other aspects of the process such as how the stamps are carved, or how the wax is boiled off may be determined by what works best for the individual Mama to get the results she wants.

Batik is older than history, with traces even laced in the wrappings of Egyptian mummies. Most people think of South East Asia when they hear batik, and indeed the word derives from several Malay words, but nations as diverse as Japan and India have had their own versions of the tradition. Batiks were as good as gold for much of history, and were enthusiastically traded among Asian neighbors as early as the seventh century. Europeans entered the mix much later, but they became the major pushers of “woven cargoes” from the seventeenth century on, and some colonial powers, most notably the Dutch (during their Golden Age), had a heavy hand in industrializing the technique.