The Guizhou batik pattern is a schematic annotation of Guizhou's ethnic history and culture. In terms of subject matter, they choose images that can represent beautiful things, and they all have a series of theories as a basis, such as myths, historical songs, legends, stories, etc., stating the origin of their choice of these themes, and also reflecting their customs and aesthetic concepts. When ethnic minority women make batik, the atmosphere of myths and legends has long hinted at a certain psychological awareness, and there is a certain mindset and value orientation that comes from inner certainty. In the batik patterns of the Miao people, there are legends of maple and butterflies as the ancestors of the Miao people, legends of Ji Yu birds helping butterflies hatch all things, legends of dogs picking rice seeds for people, and legends of Jiang Yang's brothers and sisters getting married and reproducing human beings. It is these myths and legends that enrich the content of Miao batik, just as Western Renaissance paintings are mostly from biblical subjects, without the nourishment of these myths and legends, Guizhou batik will also be overshadowed.

There are many theme patterns that describe the society and history of the Miao ancestors in Guizhou batik patterns that have been passed down from generation to generation, such as "Yellow River", "Yangtze River", "Plain", "City", etc., which vividly depict the tragic migration history of Miao ancestors, and Miao batik patterns are therefore known as "wordless history books". These patterns are regarded as the illustrated historical display and inheritance of the ethnic group, and during the long migration, the gradually separated Miao groups relied on these patterns to remember their common cultural ties and educate those who came after them not to forget their ancestral homeland. Officially, this generation of Miao family, not only the living cherish them, but the deceased must also wear longevity clothes with these patterns in order to be buried, and only in this way can the soul of the deceased return to the ancestral homeland. These patterns play an important role in cultivating national consciousness and preserving national individuality. For the people who do not have a written language, they play the function of cultural symbols and have historical cognitive value.

Among the ethnic minorities in Guizhou, the clothing pattern is the first target identified in people's interactions, and the traditional patterns on the clothing often have special significance and strong ethnic cohesion, which to a certain extent plays a role in reflecting the group consciousness, identifying the ethnic culture, and coordinating the management of the ethnic group. Guizhou's ethnic minorities, especially the Miao people, have suffered frequent disasters in history, and their survival through wars and migrations is entirely dependent on the spirit of the ethnic groups to help each other in the same boat and share weal and woe. Only the strength of the group is the condition for preserving the survival of the individual, so the ethnic minorities in Guizhou attach special importance to the unity of the same ancestor, the same clan and the same branch and the unity of action. The same style of clothing and the same style of pattern and motifs are something that people in this culture must accept unconditionally, just as one cannot choose one's parents. As the Miao song sings, "Dress the same cloth, wear the same skirt and flowers, do the same work, we unite the place, we unite the village, we walk a road, we walk a bridge, we turn our heads to the side, and stand together." ”

The important identification role of national costume patterns makes some ethnic groups and branches "only recognize clothes and not people" in terms of marriage choices, religious beliefs and foreign exchanges. Some Miao tribes are even reluctant to marry Miao people with different costumes, and would rather go to dozens or even hundreds of miles of unexpected villages to find Miao people with the same costumes to intermarry. Because of this, Miao women can pass on their clothes from generation to generation, so that batik and other production skills can be passed on from generation to generation. Although the production process is complicated and trivial, and although they do not fully understand the meaning and ins and outs of the pattern, they are still very devoted to weaving and dyeing, reflecting their recognition and respect for ethnic groups and branch cultures.

With the continuous cultural exchanges between ethnic groups, Han patterns have also been introduced to Guizhou in various ways, and have not been accepted and loved by the Guizhou people. There are many patterns in Guizhou batik that come from the Han culture. For example, Danzhai batik has bats, pomegranates, birds, clouds, longevity patterns, 10,000 characters and other traditional patterns in culture. Anshun batik ethnic handicrafts have been basically sinicized, and it is difficult to find traces of Miao traditional culture in mature patterns.

In July 1981, the "China Guizhou Folk Crafts Exhibition" was exhibited in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, and the pattern collection "Wax Flowers" with Miao batik as the main body was collected by the National Museum of Denmark. In May 1982, the "Chinese Traditional Techniques Exhibition" was grandly opened at the Ontario Science Center in Toronto, Canada. People are the first to see the exquisite wax painting skills and skillful and elegant oriental colors of Yang Jinxiu, a Chinese Miao girl, and appreciate the true meaning of the ancient civilization of the Chinese nation for thousands of years. They watched and admired the batik of the Miao nationality as the real "flower of oriental art" and the highest level of folk craftsmanship in the contemporary world. Later, the Miao girls Wang Arong and Yang Fang were invited to the United States, Hong Kong and other places to perform wax painting skills, causing a sensation and were known as "wax artist" and "wax flower lady". In a short period of ten or several years, Guizhou Miao batik has spread to Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and Oceania, not only for artists to appreciate and evaluate, but also to become a lifestyle fashion among the broad masses of people at home and abroad, which has had a strong and extensive influence.

Why can Miao batik, who came from the deep mountains, step out of the country, attract the attention and envy of another unfamiliar group and become a popular fashion?

This is because the traditional Miao batik is like a fresh wind in modern society, making modern people feel the harmony and warmth between man and nature. Its value does not so much come from itself, but rather from the isomorphism of different societies and cultures and the impetus of artistic trends. In other words, "Miao batik, as a special cultural product, is not simply a solidified form of Miao social production function or natural law, but also permeates a universal natural factor, that is, both ordinary and special personal feelings." It belongs to the psychological genetic information in the natural endowment of human beings, and it is the collective unconscious accumulated in the depths".

Miao batik's transition from folk secular life to modern art is the result of the loss and interaction of the two different cultures. Different people from different cultural backgrounds have caused thinking about different cultural levels of Miao batik, and together they are manifested as a sense of cultural return. However, no matter from which point of view, this kind of regression consciousness is not a return to its original cultural circle, but a return to the deep consciousness of human culture to find the life force; It is not nostalgia and self-absorption of its own culture, but a look down from a historical perspective; It is not a hunt and fun for this ancient cultural and art form, but a deep exploration of the true meaning of art.

Drawing inspiration from the traditional batik of the Miao people has become a topic of concern for modern batik artists, fabric designers, and fashion designers. Compared with traditional batik, modern batik artists pay more attention to the characteristics of the times, from the accumulation of culture and the evolution of higher civilization, and mainly express the new breakthroughs in the concept brought about by the development of modern science and technology and social economy, and perfectly combine the charm of traditional batik with modern fashion life.

Understanding and investigating the origin of batik is a necessary part of understanding the essence of batik. The origin of any skill and human labor are synchronized, it includes the various effects of nature discovered by human beings and the experience of human operation, and the same is true of the origin of batik techniques.

Egypt is the cradle of ancient civilizations, and its unique geographical location allows it to absorb various cultures of the East and the West at the same time, becoming one of the first ancient countries to enter civilization. Blue indigo has been used as an antiseptic and antibacterial agent in ancient Egypt and the Fifth Dynasty in 2400 B.C., and the Roman scholar Prinis in the first century B.C. described the Egyptians using beeswax to burn when dyeing fabrics in the "Natural History", and called this method "eccentric", which shows that as early as Egypt equivalent to the Western Han Dynasty, batik techniques have been widely popular. According to C. Myers's Textile Prints, Egyptian wax anti-floral cloth was famous as early as 1500 BC. Therefore, Egypt should be considered one of the birthplaces of batik.

India was the first country in the world to use cotton fibers, and India has been documenting the extraction of indigo from blue grass to dye cotton textiles as early as the 5th century BC, so the printing and dyeing of cotton fabrics may also have originated in India. Although India's humid climate makes it difficult to find ancient fabric fragments, batik cotton fabrics unearthed from other regions suggest that India once had a highly developed batik culture. Professor Zhao Feng in the book "History of Silk Art" researched the batik cotton fabric with the statue of the goddess unearthed in Niya, Minfeng District, Xinjiang, according to the backlight of the god's head with the factor of Indian culture, it is believed that the batik process has been introduced to the western border of China in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and India should be one of the origins of batik.

China is undoubtedly one of the birthplaces of batik, and some clues can be found from a large number of historical records and ancient paintings. The exquisite batik unearthed from the excavation provides strong evidence, and greatly pushes forward the origin time of batik in China. The "History of Chinese Textile Science and Technology" edited by Professor Chen Weiji believes that batik originated from ethnic minorities in southwest China, which can be traced back to the Qin and Han dynasties, when beeswax and white wax were used as anti-dyeing materials to make white pattern calico, hundreds of years earlier than India and Egypt. In his book "The Invention and Transmission of Chinese Printing", the American Dumas Francisco Carter said: "The early batik objects in China are much earlier than those found in Egypt, Japan, Peru, and Guawa, especially the batik objects unearthed in the Dunhuang Grottoes and Turpan in Xinjiang are enough to prove. ”

The advantages of the batik industry in the Malay Archipelago make him also considered one of the origins of batik, and the American Ferrest also mentioned in the book "Batik" that the birthplace of batik was in Guawa, and it was not until after 1515 A.D. that people who traveled there spread batik technology to all parts of the world.

These areas are considered to be the birthplace of batik, on the one hand, because of the restrictions of these areas; On the other hand, the reason is that there are unearthed cultural relics or documents to corroborate, and it is unknown whether there is batik technology in the civilization that has disappeared.

Starting from the most pristine blue, "batik" is poetic and spiritually stunning

Woven for the autumn geese outside the clouds, dyed as the spring water color of the south of the Yangtze River

What is "batik"?

Batik, known as "wax valerian" in ancient times, is a traditional handmade printing and dyeing technique that uses wax as an anti-dyeing material.

a square scarf, a foot of blue cloth; One stroke at a time, one stroke at a time. Or like a soup waterfall spring, and like white fireworks cluster snow.

A butterfly, a small flower, elegant and indifferent, quiet and long-lasting...... Sketch as you like, changeable colors, fresh and refined, chic and comfortable.

When the white cloth lies flat on the wooden board and the beeswax jumps into the ceramic bowl, the meeting of charcoal ash and wax begins.

The wax knife skillfully walks the river, from thick to talking, and unconsciously the world on the cloth is natural.

Put the painted wax tablets in the indigo dye vat for a bath, and then steam a "sauna", deep or shallow dragon pattern, butterfly pattern, copper drum pattern...... And there it was.

Finally, after the waxing is removed, an ingenious ink landscape painting is completed. In this process, the wax used as an anti-dyeing agent naturally cracks, making the cloth surface show a special "ice pattern", which is even more attractive.

The charm of batik lies in the fact that traditional craftsmanship is a lyrical tool that can be expressed in a more diverse way in the whimsy of modern people.

Artists regard batik as an important part of modern art and fiber art, and regard batik techniques as a form of expression of modern painting. On the other hand, artists also "derive" batik art into all aspects of everyday life design.

Batik generally uses vegetable or mineral dyes. Natural dyes have the attributes of environmental protection and original ecology, but they also have their own limitations, many dyed plants have the characteristics of weak color fixation, but the artist Gong Jianpei is unwilling to be constrained by them.

He said: "If we only inherit without development, and do not 'revitalize' the current way of life and modern concepts, this is not the correct way of development, and we must innovate and make breakthroughs on the basis of tradition." ”

Since the 90s, Gong Jianpei has been constantly making breakthroughs in batik technology.

He changed some of the carriers of batik from silk, cotton and other fabrics to handmade rice paper on paper, creating a number of new works with unique colors and sense of form.

The choice of paper for this batch of works includes Korean paper, turf paper, raw edge paper, and special paper with silk on the front and rice paper on the back. In the use of plant dyes, indigo, gardenia, tea, comfrey and so on are mainly chosen.

With the passage of time, batik on paper has precipitated a different kind of aesthetic practice, so that his art continues to convey the beauty given by nature in the process of "change".

The fading of color is a natural process and a witness to the changes of time, which may allow the works to convey different natural beauty at different times.

Gong Jianpei said, "Only when traditional art is combined with modern lifestyles can it radiate fresh vitality, and only when it is combined with modern concepts can it be recognized by modern society." ”

Batik can be a perfect fit with paper, does this also indicate other cross-border possibilities?

The comfort and thoughtfulness of silk, the indifference and elegance of batik, and the tranquility of both at the same time as a traction, make them more relaxed and enjoy the pure land of the soul.

Carolyn Doe, an American artist who perfectly combines silk and batik, has produced many beautiful paintings.

A room, a piece of yellow sand, and a blue sky are not lonely and gloomy, but the heroic atmosphere of an independent world.

Du Fu once said: "The poor people in the world are happy." While keeping his own thatched house, he contributes a small world to the people of the world.

The majestic atmosphere is not the spaciousness and brightness of the house, but the tolerance and breadth of the inner world.

Solo fishing in the silver landscape cold river snow; Ascend and look far away in the sassy autumn wind; Gazing and contemplating between the dazed world and the earth. The true meaning of life is revealed unconsciously.

The spring snow mountain stream of the blue bridge falls, and the silk floats with the autumn wind

The beauty of batik has made people fall in love with it, and the art of batik has also been inherited and innovated. Another artist, Liu Zilong, combined batik techniques with painting and innovated them to create colorful batik paintings.

Brilliant yellow, blazing red, calm blue, boldly dancing and singing, it seems to be accompanied by a warm breeze on this large piece of sunshine, everything is so peaceful and wonderful.

Lazily stretch your waist, hum a little song, and stroll in this beautiful world, life is so beautiful.

In ancient times, Su Shi had clouds: "A cloud of smoke and rain is your life". It is the detachment and freedom of taking a light boat, not afraid of wind and rain, doing whatever you want, smiling in the flashy world, and indifferent in your heart. Unbridled rendering, wanton dyes, bohemianism, and eclecticism.

When the crayon becomes delicate, when the batik becomes gorgeous, the combination of different brings something ineffable. One is bold and spicy, the other is small and gentle, unrestrained and subtle are not contrasts, but matches, and a suitable encounter begins.

The most simple is the most ethnic, the most simple is the most attentive. This is the nature of life. Ingenious batik and silk, as a symbol of the nation, have been interpreting the true meaning of life.

The beauty of batik is not only colorful, not only in the meticulous carving, but also in the inner feelings. Take a look at the latest chapters of "Dream Claw Book House in the Great Era" and read it for free for the first time.