Interwoven stories
Interwoven stories
on richly decorated mats
2021
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In North Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo, in the Sembakung river basin live the Agabag, a Dayak society of the Murut language group.
While working as a consultant in North Kalimantan for a women's empowerment program, I discovered the plaited and richly decorated mats of the Agabag plaiters, and that some of the oldest patterns on the plaited mats from rattan, told stories.
10 years later, in January and February 2020, I traveled again to the Sembakung area to visit plaiters along the river. They proudly unrolled their extraordinary mats for us and told their stories. My friend Mince accompanied me, translated from the Agabag language into Indonesian and helped me understand the stories.
Only a few plaiters still know the stories and are able to tell them. Maybe they will be forgotten in the near future.