Jacky Cheng teaches Silk Painting to Home Island Primary Students, 2025, Photo – Niamh Swingler

Niamh Swingler recounts the successful Batik Revival Project that reconnected the remote Cocos Keeling Islands community with their cultural past by reintroducing textile art skills through silk painting and hot wax batik workshops.

(A message to the reader.)

To arrive on the Cocos Keeling Islands is to arrive in a remote paradise. As you fly in over the lagoon, the azure waters of the lagoon are astounding, and you will be equally intrigued by the tiny, picturesque islands (all 27 of them) that make up the Cocos Keeling Islands Atoll. The moment you step off the plane and onto the unfenced tarmac on West Island surrounded by coconut palms, you will be hit by an overwhelming wave of humidity and tropical heat. As you make your way to the jetty to catch the ferry across the Lagoon to Home Island, you will start to meet a number of Cocos Malay locals who will welcome you with so much warmth, passion and joy.

Welcome to the Cocos Keeling Islands. Located closer to Indonesia than Australia, it takes at least 4.5 hours to fly to this remote Australian Territory from Perth, over the Indian Ocean. The population of the islands is around 600 people, and there are two inhabited islands out of the 27 in the Atoll chain, Home Island and West Island. Home Island is home to the Cocos Malay people, who boast a rich and unusual culture filled with nuances from their Indonesian/Javanese heritage, combined with Scottish culture brought to them by the Clunies-Ross family, who governed the Islands before full integration with Australia in 1984 after the United Nations facilitated a referendum.

In May of 2024, on the Islands, Jacky Cheng, Nek Tiara and I had just finished an Orizome workshop facilitated by Jacky. We began to chat about the joys of creating and exposure to new skills and practices that can be so rare for the Cocos Islanders due to their remote geographical location. We began to reflect on the island’s historical artistic ventures. This was when batik came into focus, and the concept for the Batik Revival Project was devised.

Jacky Cheng and Nek Tiara (Woren Dedian) at Jacky’s Orizome workshop for the Seniors on Home Island, 2024, Photo – Jacky Cheng

The purpose of the project was to revitalise the batik practice on the Islands and build artistic capacity amongst the Cocos community. In the 1990s, the practice was popular amongst the community, and there was a dedicated workshop where artists created ornate pieces that were sold locally, as well as on mainland Australia. The artists from the 1990s took inspiration from their surroundings, with examples we have collected depicting intricate shells and scenes from the islands.

The batik skillset was lost when the workshop closed, and many of the prolific members moved away from the islands or passed away and were unable to continue the practice. There had been no opportunity to revive the skills since then.

Reflecting on our conversations with Nek Tiara, Jacky and I discussed at great length the best way to approach the revitalisation of this skillset in an approachable manner that would encourage the greatest participation across the Atoll. We successfully received a Regional Arts WA Project Grant to carry out the Batik Revival Project, and so we were off and running!

The Batik Revival Project was run in two main stages for participating artists, with workshops facilitated by renowned artist Jacky Cheng available free of charge to local Cocos Islanders from both Home Island and West Island thanks to grant funding.

Stage 1 focused on skill building and creating confidence for the artists through a medium known as Silk Painting. This technique was a logical first step as it utilises a similar concept of using a resist product to create an outline; however, rather than dipping the fabric into dye baths as is traditional with hot wax Batik, dyes can be applied with a brush, and the artist has greater control over the specifics of colour application. The similarities in the processes allowed silk painting to be a positive preliminary step leading into Hot Wax Batik in Stage 2. This process was easy to follow: the skills were approachable, and the outcomes were intricate and inspiring, with the inclusion of many island motifs that connected the artist back to the works created in the 1990s. Stage 1 focused on creating a fun, safe, experimental environment where islanders from both West and Home Island could connect, and that participation could be encouraged. During stage 1, the community created over 336 silk scarves at workshops at Cocos Islands District High School and the wider community workshops.

After Jacky departed from Cocos following the Stage 1 workshops, artists were able to continue honing their skills in silk painting with weekly classes available to all. The intricacy of the pieces continued to increase, and the experiments continued, giving artists a strong sense of pride in their newfound abilities.

Stage 2 saw the reintroduction of hot wax into the community, a technique once prevalent on the Islands. Hot wax batik proved to be a much more complex process and challenged the artists who were eager to participate; however, there was a great response from local people, making them feel a greater connection to their cultural past. The process of hot wax batik is more arduous than silk painting. The artist must envisage their design in layers of colour, rather than applying colour separately to various areas. Wax is applied to the piece of fabric to block out areas that will not be dyed when the fabric is dipped into the dye bath. Once dyed in the initial colour, the wax is boiled to be removed, and then the process can be repeated to introduce another colour layer.

As the workshops for hot wax batik were taking place, we were able to facilitate an exhibition of a number of silk pieces created throughout the project. The exhibition was put together using minimal available materials, including fossilised coral, string, bamboo and safety pins. We included a display of the 1990s pieces that had been generously donated. The exhibition allowed the community to celebrate all the artists and reminisce further about the past Batik skills on the island.

The future of the Cocos Islands is uncertain, with concerns about military intervention and the growing environmental impacts of climate change. We intend to continue focusing on the people and the community on the Cocos Islands. The Batik Revival Project played a strong role in connecting the community, allowing people to come together to share a goal of creating beautiful and meaningful art. There is difficulty for the Islands securing grant funding as we are not included in many of the funding rounds afforded to mainland states, so we will continue to search for opportunities to further our on-Island practices. We hope that this legacy of the Batik Revival Project can endure through future textile projects, introducing new skills to the community and fostering a continued passion for textiles.

The Batik Revival Project was made possible through grant funding that was provided to the Shire of Cocos Keeling Islands by Regional Arts WA’s Project Grants, and heavily supported by the Shire of Cocos Keeling Islands. Many thanks to Jacky Cheng, Regional Arts WA, Regional Arts Australia and the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, The Shire of Cocos Keeling Islands and the Cocos community!

About Niamh Swingler

I live on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and work for the Shire in the role of Community Development Officer – Culture and Heritage. This role has enabled me to work on many Heritage and Arts projects, such as the Batik Revival Project, Jukong Restoration Project, Pulu Cocos Museum upgrades and collaborating on many cultural events to enrich the community. Outside of work, I love to enjoy all that Cocos has to offer, spending lots of time on the water and working on various art and craft projects through my studio, Bandit Bureau.

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batik | Cocos | G41 | Indian Ocean | island | Jackie Cheng