"Mother Earth has given; Mother Earth has been hurt. Mother Earth will seek justice."

​(Kartini Kendeng, 2016)

Sewn together from a vast collection of batik fabrics, the dress is an assemblage of indigenous aesthetics severed from the root and soil of their respective traditions. Their commodification at the hands of capital elites represent an ongoing struggle of cultural imperialism in the backdrop of environmental destruction and its attendant exploitation of indigenous communities, contrary to Indonesia’s popularised slogan of multiculturalism on the international stage.

Simultaneously celebrated as the personification of the Indonesian Motherland and the subject of endless corporate exploitation, Ibu Pertiwi speaks to a national identity caught between economic growth and environmental decline, and the stewards who sing of resistance.