Batik Scroll

The birds are distributed across the textile in different positions, creating a sense of movement and spaciousness, while the open ground evokes the changing expanse of the sky.

The work is particularly notable for its sophisticated handling of colour and tonal gradation. Natural and acid dyes are used together, moving from the lightest shades to progressively deeper tones. This gradual build-up of colour creates depth and atmosphere, while the wax-resist process allows the forms to be articulated with the precision of drawing.

In works such as this, batik begins to function less as a technique for decorating a textile and more as a medium for making paintings. The fabric becomes a pictorial surface, and wax and dye take on the roles of line, colour and tonal modulation. The scroll therefore belongs to an important moment in the development of Santiniketan batik, when practitioners at Kala Bhavana were expanding the medium beyond wearable textiles and exploring its possibilities as an independent form of visual expression.