Overview

A lamak is a long narrow ritual hanging that is an essential requirement at almost all rituals in Bali. It is hung from altars and shrines at temple festivals and on festive holy days. Made usually of palm leaves, it is by nature ephemeral and it is made time and again. Even though permanent forms of the lamak, made of cloth or coins, do exist, the ephemeral palm leaf form must be present. Sometimes reaching a length of several metres and decorated with a range of motifs, its most elaborate forms are made by specialist craftsmen and women. The lamak serves as base for offerings and attracts deities and deified ancestors to them. Decorative motifs representing sources of life are ordered according to Balinese concepts of the vertical structure of the cosmos. Best known among the motifs is the cili, a human figure in female form that symbolizes human fertility and regeneration. Through offerings and the active role of the lamak, worshippers offer thanks to their deities and request prosperity and protection. Despite decades of change and modernization that have affected all aspects of life in Bali, the essential role of the lamak has survived intact. Although there are many studies of Bali's internationally appreciated arts and crafts, this is the first one to examine in detail this fascinating and unique form of ephemeral material culture which is a prominent feature of Balinese creativity. The study answers the question: why do Balinese make lamak and why do they continue to make them time and again? It examines the use and function of the lamak in ritual, the motifs that decorate them, the materials and techniques to make them, regional and individual styles, and processes of change and commercialization. Francine Brinkgreve is curator for the Insular Southeast Asia collection at the National Museum of World Cultures, which includes Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden and the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam. During her study Cultural Anthropology at Leiden University, she specialized in the cultures of Indonesia.

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9789088903908

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Francine Brinkgreve was born in 1956 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. After obtaining her Gymnasium diploma in 1974, she studied Cultural Anthropology at Leiden University. During her studies she specialized in the cultures of Indonesia, under supervision of Professor A.A. Gerbrands and Professor P.E. de Josselin de Jong. She also studied museology with Professor P. Pott, Bahasa Indonesia under Professor A. Teeuw, and Balinese culture with Dr H.I.R. Hinzler. As part of her studies, she conducted fieldwork in Bali. She received her Master's (doctorandus) degree in 1984, with a thesis about the meaning of offerings in Balinese culture. From 1988 until 1990 Francine Brinkgreve received a scholarship from WOTRO and the Program of Indonesian Studies to conduct Ph.D. research, including fieldwork, on the subject of offerings and ritual decorations in Bali. This resulted in the publication of a book for a general public, and several academic articles. After various positions at Leiden University (Faculty of Social Sciences), the Bureau Indonesian Studies (BIS), the project Mondelinge Geschiedenis (Oral History) Indonesia of the KITLV and the Stichting Pelita, in 2004 she was employed by the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde (National Museum of Ethnology) in Leiden as a member of the team carrying out the Shared Cultural Heritage Project, in cooperation with the Museum Nasional in Jakarta. In 2009 she became coordinator of this cooperative project and was then appointed curator for the Insular Southeast Asia collection at the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde. Since the formation in 2014 of the National Museum of World Cultures, which includes Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden and the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam, she is one of the two curators for the Insular Southeast Asia collection. Francine Brinkgreve has been involved in many exhibitions and has written many articles and has (co-)edited books on various aspects of the material culture of Indonesia and the collecting histories of museum collections. The completion of this PhD thesis was carried out as part of her function as curator, within the framework of the Graduate School of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Leiden University.

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