Ratri Notosudirdjo

Holding Each Other 

In response to the sample books of the Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij (LKM) and her own Indonesian heritage, Ratri Notosudirdjo explored the checkerboard pattern that spread through colonial trade to former British and Dutch colonies, taking on different applications and layers of meaning in each context. Notosudirdjo references three distinct traditions in which the checkerboard pattern appears: the Balinese poleng cloth, the originally Scottish tartan in South African contexts, and madras textiles from South India. 

Her installation ‘Holding Each Other’ consists of three human-sized triangles knitted at the TextielLab, displaying a checkerboard pattern on the exterior, while each interior side carries its own unique design. Loops along the sides allow cords to be threaded through, and the pointed tops are pulled towards the ceiling, creating a tension between supporting, hanging, and holding. Knitted “arms” extend from the triangles, which the artist treated with printing and embroidery techniques inspired by three workshops. For these workshops, she invited artists and other participants from diverse cultural backgrounds to engage in discussions about colonial legacies, cultural restitution, and alternative forms of preservation and ritual. Fragments from these conversations are incorporated into a sound collage. 

In ‘Holding Each Other’, the checkerboard pattern functions as a counter-archive: a structure in which stories of colonial entanglement are not resolved but remain tangible. 

Photography by Patty van den Elshout commissioned by TextielMuseum

The collection assignments are made possible with financial support from the Mondriaan Fund.