Batik: Obama and Sister Recall Mother’s Love of Southeast Asia

Ann Dunham, the mother of President Obama, was a cultural anthropologist who spent many years studying and working in Indonesia. During that time she collected batiks, the intricately patterned handmade fabrics she loved.

Above is Dunham’s daughter Maya Soetoro-Ng — Obama’s half sister — during the launch of an exhibition of 20 of her mother’s batiks at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. "For me, batik reminds me of my mother’s love for the people of Southeast Asia,” she told reporters.

For the launch, Obama recorded a video message, recalling that his mother wore batiks almost every day. (He lived with her in Indonesia as a child.) She often bought batiks from village markets and knew that “the textiles meant a livelihood for the mothers and women who made them,“ he said.

Ann Dunham's Legacy: A Collection of Indonesian Batiks opened June 8 and will be on display at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia to July 20. It is the first time the collection has been shown outside the United States.

See a photo gallery on the U.S. Embassy Kuala Lumpur website: "Ann Dunham’s Legacy: A Collection of Indonesian Batiks."