Sandy Rismantojo

For centuries, the island of Java had been the focal point of the world’s spice trade route with traders from Arabia, Persia, India, China, Spain, the Dutch, and the Portuguese. The foreign traders who later stayed and married residents lived in cities along the north coast of Java. The local culture and Chinese immigrant culture blended, creating Chinese Peranakan culture. Known as accomplished entrepreneurs, the Chinese Peranakan also developed Peranakan batik, for example, Batik Tiga Negeri. Many visuals depicted were a blend of Javanese, Chinese, Arabic, Persian, and Dutch culture. Which ultimately creating this batik rich in acculturation values in Indonesia. Decoding#2 illustrates that Batik Tiga Negeri by Dua Putri Lasem combines layers of meaning and story. This artwork uses a montage technique to create a new female model representing cultural acculturation. It uses a printing process on several layers of acrylic-based on the semiotic theory of text. In this artwork, the visuals that appeared on this batik are layers of language, a combination of signs relating to the sign system, the level and relationship between signs, the content of myths, and ideology that have social meanings and values behind them.