Wax, Memory and Healing:
Shuen-Li Spirit's Contemporary Batik Practice
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CCD-NL Contemporary Craft Review
Issue 2 – 25 July 2026
Wax, Memory and Healing
Shuen-Li Spirit's Contemporary Batik Practice
Introduction
CCD-NL Contemporary Craft Review features independent reviews of artists, designers, makers, and cultural practitioners whose work engages with craft, material culture, and living traditions.
This issue focuses on Shuen-Li Spirit, a Singaporean batik artist, educator, and writer based in the Netherlands. Through her artworks and workshops, she shows how traditional batik continues to evolve while remaining connected to its cultural roots. This review looks at how she brings together making, teaching, and community engagement, presenting batik as a living tradition for contemporary audiences.
Batik Beyond Decorative Tradition
For many people outside Indonesia, batik is often associated with traditional textiles, beautiful patterns, or cultural heritage. While these remain important aspects of its identity, Shuen-Li Spirit invites viewers to see batik differently, not simply as a decorative craft, but as a contemporary artistic medium.
Her artworks are characterised by delicate hand-drawn wax lines, organic botanical forms, birds, celestial imagery, and recurring female figures. Together, these elements create a visual language that feels both personal and poetic. Rather than telling a single story, the imagery remains open, inviting viewers to bring their own interpretations and experiences.
Figure 1. Portrait of My Cat (left) and Mycelium Network (right), batik on cotton by Shuen-Li Spirit. Both works show her use of hand-drawn wax lines, organic forms, and layered colour. Images courtesy of Shuen-Li Spirit.
As shown in Figure 1, Shuen-Li moves comfortably between representation and abstraction. While Portrait of My Cat depicts a familiar subject through lines and colour, Mycelium Network explores more abstract forms inspired by nature. Despite their different subjects, both works show her careful attention to rhythm, layering, and the hand-drawn character of batik.
One of the most distinctive qualities of Shuen-Li's work is its quietness. Rather than relying on dramatic colours or complex visual effects, her compositions encourage viewers to slow down and spend time with the work. The balance of line, colour, and empty space reflects the calm, meditative rhythm of the batik-making process.
In Shuen-Li's practice, making is inseparable from meaning. The patience required to apply hot wax by hand, layer by layer, is more than a technical process; it becomes part of the work itself.
Memory, Heritage and Personal Narrative
Memory is central to Shuen-Li Spirit's practice. Rather than looking back with nostalgia, she treats it as an ongoing process of reflection, healing, and reconnection. Drawing on family stories, women's experiences, and her cultural heritage, she uses batik to express ideas that are often difficult to put into words. The fabric becomes a place where personal experience and cultural history meet.
Instead of telling a story directly, her works rely on recurring natural forms such as flowers, birds, and flowing organic shapes. These symbols remain open to interpretation, inviting viewers to connect the work with their own experiences and memories. Rather than offering fixed meanings, Shuen-Li's batik leaves room for personal interpretation, inviting viewers to connect the work with their own memories and experiences.
Materiality and Craftsmanship
One of the most distinctive aspects of Shuen-Li's practice is her close relationship with the materials she works with. Batik is not a technique that can be rushed. Every line of hot wax is applied by hand, each layer of colour takes time to develop, and the final image gradually emerges through a series of carefully considered steps.
Like all hand-drawn batik, the process also involves a degree of unpredictability. Wax flows differently depending on its temperature, dyes behave differently on fabric, and no two pieces will ever be exactly the same. Rather than seeing these qualities as imperfections, Shuen-Li embraces them as part of the making process. They remind us that each work carries the trace of the artist's hand and the unique journey of its creation.
Figure 2. Shuen-Li Spirit applying hot wax during the batik-making process. The photograph illustrates the close relationship between artist, material, and process that lies at the heart of her practice. Image courtesy of Shuen-Li Spirit.
As shown in Figure 2, making batik requires patience, precision, and close attention at every stage. Shuen-Li values the act of making as much as the finished work. By building on inherited techniques rather than moving away from them, she shows how traditional craftsmanship can continue within contemporary artistic practice.
Batik Workshops as Artistic Practice
One of the most interesting aspects of Shuen-Li's work is how she brings her artistic philosophy into the classroom. Her batik workshops are more than opportunities to learn a traditional technique; they are an extension of her creative practice.
Held across the Netherlands, the workshops introduce participants to the basics of hand-drawn batik while encouraging them to slow down and work closely with the material. Participants experience the rhythm of applying wax and layering colour, with space for experimentation and personal expression. Learning batik therefore becomes more than mastering a technique. It develops patience, observation, and a deeper appreciation of the knowledge carried through traditional textile practice.
The workshops also introduce Indonesian batik to audiences in the Netherlands. Participants from different cultural backgrounds learn through direct experience rather than observation alone. Batik is presented not simply as a museum object or historical tradition, but as a living practice shaped through creativity, dialogue, and participation. By bringing together art and education, Shuen-Li shows that teaching can also be a creative act. Her workshops pass on technical skills while building a deeper appreciation of the cultural knowledge and craftsmanship behind batik.
Evaluation
What makes Shuen-Li Spirit's practice stand out is its consistency. Whether she is creating a batik artwork, leading a workshop, or sharing her knowledge through writing, the same values remain at its core: respect for craftsmanship, thoughtful making, cultural continuity, and meaningful engagement with others.
One of the strengths of her work is the way she makes batik accessible without losing sight of its cultural and technical foundations. Her practice remains rooted in Indonesian batik while allowing space for personal expression and contemporary interpretation. The quietness of her work may not immediately appeal to viewers looking for bold visual impact, but it is precisely this sense of restraint that gives her practice its distinctive character. Like the batik-making process itself, her work rewards patience, close observation, and time.
At a time when discussions of heritage often focus on preservation, Shuen-Li reminds us that traditions remain relevant because they continue to be practised, reinterpreted, and shared with new audiences.
Conclusion
Shuen-Li Spirit's practice demonstrates how contemporary batik can remain deeply connected to tradition while continuing to grow in new directions. Through her artworks, workshops, and educational activities, she creates opportunities for people to engage with Indonesian batik not only as a historic textile tradition, but also as a living and evolving artistic practice.
What makes her work particularly significant is that it brings together artistic practice, craftsmanship, and cultural exchange in a way that feels both authentic and accessible. Rather than separating tradition from contemporary life, she shows how the two can enrich one another.
As the second artist featured in CCD-NL Contemporary Craft Review, Shuen-Li Spirit represents the kind of textile practitioner this series hopes to highlight, artists whose work respects cultural heritage while opening new possibilities for contemporary practice. Her contribution reminds us that the future of textile traditions lies not only in preserving techniques, but also in continuing to create, teach, and inspire through them.
Published by the Centre for Culture and Development (CCD-NL) as part of the CCD-NL Contemporary Craft Reviewseries.
Author
Julita Oetojo
Doctoral Researcher University of Bonn, Germany in Textile Heritage and Material Culture
Advisory Board, CCD-NL
Images
Courtesy of Shuen-Li Spirit. Reproduced with permission.
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CCD-NL Contemporary Craft Review – Issue 3
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