Ingatan Kain Mama / Memory of Mother's Cloth (2024)

Learning about the stories of Maumere weaving. This learning then led her to personal stories about the 'mama cloth,' the teachings of mothers toward their sons in Maumere, and collective stories about the value of cloth in culture, the city, and the tension between the care practices of weaving mothers and the professional work that is closely linked to the market. In the Baku Konek residency, Widi studied and developed motifs based on the memories of KAHE friends about the teachings of mothers in their childhood. These motifs were woven into cloth, in collaboration with Mama Lin, a weaver from Watublapi. Together with Dixxxie, Widi documented Jata Kapa, a song that holds knowledge about weaving techniques, in various musical forms. Widi’s entire preliminary research process will be made into a documentary film in collaboration with Bernard Lazar.
The motifs created by Widi were also shown to weavers or fabric sellers in the markets. This is part of a small social experiment to gauge how locals perceive the growth of motifs. There is a tension between the traditional sacred approach to weaving and a more open perspective that weaving is part of a dynamic and ever-evolving culture.