Encountering Iban Textiles

Thursday, April 24
1:00–3:00 p.m. PT
Speaker: Thomas Murray, HALI Magazine Contributing Editor and Kristal Hale, Conservator of Textiles at the Conservation Center of Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Virtual Event

Textiles produced by the Iban people from the island of Borneo are known to convey messages across time and space by means of an archetypal iconography that includes human figures, trees, reptiles, birds, and geometric patterns. These encoded images follow ancestral traditions and customary laws known as adat; cloth becomes sacred through a combination of fine spinning, dyeing, and weaving that creates a sense of aesthetic wonder.

The famed anthropologist Alfred Gell referred to this state of mind as the "technology of enchantment": the better the weaver’s technique, the greater the cloth’s aesthetic beauty, the more "agency" of spiritual power within an indigenous cultural context.

Thomas Murray will offer insights into the ritual cloths of the Iban Dayak of Borneo, share their cultural context within the longhouse way of life, and present the two theoretical perspectives debated in academia using classical examples from his collection to illustrate his points.

Kristal Hale will bring the conversation into the present, discussing her experience participating in the Iban Dayak ngar (mordant) ceremony at Rumah Garie Longhouse far upriver on a tributary of the Batang Baleh, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. The mordanting ceremony chemically and spiritually prepares white, undyed cotton to bind with the natural plant dyes used in ikat. It is the ikat that gives the famous pua kumbu weavings their ritual power and cultural significance, but it is only through the use of mordants that the highly valued deep red color from morinda citrifolia can be achieved.

Speaker Bios:

Thomas Murray is an independent researcher, collector, lecturer, and private dealer of Asian and tribal art with an emphasis on Indonesian sculpture and textiles, as well as animistic art from other varied cultures. He also features Indian Trade Cloths from the 14th–18th centuries.

A HALI Magazine Contributing Editor for the last 30 years, he serves as their “in-house” expert on all tribal sculpture and textiles, with over 50 publications. His most recent books, Textiles of Japan, Rarities From the Himalayas to Hawaii, and Textiles of Indonesia, were met with critical acclaim. Thomas Murray is past president of ATADA, The Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association, and served a three-year term as a member of President Obama’s Cultural Property Advisory Committee at the State Department. In a letter from a White House, President Obama said, “This dedicated individual brings a wealth of experience and talent to his new role and I am proud to have him serve in the months and years to come.” Thomas Murray continues to consult with museums and private clients all over the world.

Kristal Hale is Conservator of Textiles at the Conservation Center of Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). She holds an MA in art conservation with a textile specialization from the Bern University of Applied Sciences in collaboration with the Abegg-Stiftung, Switzerland. Kristal was an Andrew W. Mellon Conservation Fellow at The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. As someone who is engaged in the intersection of heritage preservation and contemporary museum practices, Kristal participates in Museums of the 21st Century program with Tracing Patterns Foundation to support conservation education in Indonesia and greater Southeast Asia.

Please note, this session will be conducted virtually via Zoom.

Save your spot. All participants will be sent the Zoom link via confirmation email with instructions once you secure your place.

Sponsored by the Asian Arts Council.

Featured at top right: Detail of a ceremonial cloth, pua’ kumbu’, patterned with anthropomorphic figures, Iban people, Borneo.