TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
CONTEMPORARY PALM LEAF WORK IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
Curated by Mary Austin and Betsy Davids SAN FRANCISCO CENTER FOR THE BOOK
T URN I N G OV E R A N OL D L EA F : C ONTE M PO R A RY PA L M L E A F WORK I N S O U T H A N D SO UT H E AST ASI A An exhibition at the San Francisco Center for the Book October 25, 2019 - January 19, 2020
E X HIB I T I O N C UR ATO R S
Mary Austin and Betsy Davids CATALO G DESI G N
Ingalls Design, San Francisco Christopher Jordan, Tracy Liu and Thomas Ingalls
B OA RD OF D IR ECTOR S OF TH E SAN FR ANCIS CO C EN TER FOR TH E BOOK
Meryl Macklin, Chair Coleen Curry, Vice Chair Joe O’Connor, Treasurer Alan Dye, Secretary Mary Austin, Co-Founder Kathleen Burch, Co-Founder David Faulds Wally Jansen Yiying Lu Mark Mavroudis Margaret Miller David Politi Erik Spiekermann Duff Axsom, Emeritus Curtiss Taylor, Emeritus
PHOTO G R A P H Y
Nina Zeininger PR IN TI N G
Autumn Press, Berkeley ISBN: 978-1-929646-17-3 ©2019 by the artists and the San Francisco Center for the Book 375 Rhode Island Street San Francisco, CA 94103 sfcb.org The SFCB logo was created by Studio Hinrichs. A portion of the purchase price of this exhibition catalog helps fund the operation of the San Francisco Center for the Book, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. THIS E X H I BI T I ON M A DE PO SSIB L E BY THE G E N E R OUS SUP P O RT OF
Grants for the Arts, Kahle Austin Foundation and Anonymous
SF CB STAFF
Jeff Thomas, Executive Director Chad Johnson, Studio Director | Resident Instructor Nina Eve Zeininger, Program and Volunteer Manager Cheryl Ball, Administration Coordinator Jennie Hinchcliff, Exhibition Manager Karen Leung, Studio Assistant Jiaqi Fu, Intern EX HIB ITION COMMITTEE
Mary Austin (Chair), Kathy Barr, Karin Breuer, Kathleen Burch, David Faulds, Karin Hibma, Alyson Kuhn, and Joe O’Connor A B O UT S FCB
The San Francisco Center for the Book, founded in 1996, is a center of inspiration for the book arts world, featuring the art and craft of letterpress printing, bookbinding and artists’ bookmaking. We are dedicated to the art of the book! SFCB was co-founded by Mary Austin and Kathleen Burch, who recognized a growing need in San Francisco and the Bay Area for a facility specifically designed and equipped for the book arts. The first of its kind on the West Coast, SFCB now offers over 400 workshops and many free events every year, including the annual street fair Roadworks: A Steamroller Printing Festival. In addition to workshops and events, SFCB creates numerous collaborative opportunities with local nonprofits, museums, and libraries. SFCB also hosts special visits and hands-on demonstrations for students of all ages, teachers, librarians, corporate team building, collectors, visiting printers, artists, writers and designers.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
6-7
India
10-33
Bali
34-49
Sri Lanka
50-55
Thailand
56-63
Burma (Myanmar)
64-73
Curators’ Biographies
75
Resource List
76
Acknowledgments
77
INTRODUCTION
In many South and Southeast Asian cultures, before printing, most books were palm leaf manuscripts: dried palm leaves, each leaf trimmed, incised and inked by hand, strung on a cord and stacked between wood covers to make a single copy of a book. Now that printed editions have replaced most of the earlier functions of palm leaf manuscripts, the traditional arts of palm leaf survive on different cultural and economic terms. This exhibition of contemporary palm leaf work grew out of our quest to learn how the historical practices have evolved in the present situation, how and by whom the traditions are now carried forward. Betsy’s palm leaf journey began in 2007 at an India governmentsponsored crafts market in South India where she happened upon an intriguing booklike accordion-folded structure made of palm leaves with cut work, flaps, and hidden images. Back at home in Berkeley, while exploring the bookmaking possibilities of this joinedleaf structure, she was won over by the skill of the artist makers of this extraordinary work and the sensory appeal of the palm leaves themselves. A desire to practice the craft of palm leaf engraving herself led to further research and travel. By 2012, she had twice visited the Heritage Village of Raghurajpur in the eastern India state of Odisha in the knowledgeable company of Purna Chandra Mishra. There she learned from Kalu Charan Bariki and his brother Narayana the details of the locally sourced materials and hand processes involved in the palm leaf artwork for which their village is celebrated. Mary’s journey began in Bali in 1993, when she discovered an elaborately housed palm leaf manuscript (called lontar in Bali) in an antique store near Kuta Beach. On subsequent visits to Bali, she discovered the Gedong Kirtya, a palm leaf repository in Singaraja, which was founded in 1928 by the Dutch to preserve the old texts on the island by copying them. She also started noticing illustrated palm leaf books in the local markets. The vast majority of these books came from Tenganan, a village that specialized in traditional crafts. While visiting there she met Wayan Muditadnana, whose spectacularly elaborate Mahabharatas encased in ornate gold-gilded wooden coffins made her appreciate the possibility of what contemporary palm leaf books could be. In an effort to make the traditional works more available, in 2010 she became involved in the launch of the Balinese scanning project at the Internet Archive, which aimed to clean, preserve and scan the traditional lontar of Bali.
6
We, Betsy and Mary, joined forces in 2015 to share and expand what we had learned about palm leaf manuscripts and artwork both old and new. Two visits to Odisha deepened our familiarity with that impressive example of evolving a vibrant art form and building a viable present-day village economy on the strength of its arts. In addition to longtime masters Kalu in Raghurajpur and Maga Nayak in adjacent village Nayak Patna, we met many young artists, including an encouraging number of young women. During visits to Sri Lanka and Thailand, we were heartened to find that ongoing Buddhist monastic teaching practices still keep in living memory the traditional knowledge of how to make palm leaf manuscripts of Buddhist texts. Long term practitioners beyond the introductory workshop level are few, though Phra Maha Prasert Siriboonyo in northern Thailand is doing exceptional work. One university in Sri Lanka (the University of Kelaniya) and one in Thailand (Chiang Mai Rajabhat University) have established Palm Leaf Studies centers to support the whole range of activities necessary to maintain the heritage: scholarly work, conservation, and digitization. In both countries, rare individual contemporary practitioners (the artist TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
Lipikorn Makaew in northern Thailand, the scribe Upali Fernando in Sri Lanka) are working in unfamiliar ways, transforming our understanding of what writing and artwork on palm leaf can be. The village community as a generative context for artmaking came to our attention again in Burma (Myanmar), where artists from the village of Ywar Ma, near Lake Inle, engrave themed sequences of Buddhist and astrological images on a distinctive stitched structure of palm leaves in covers of characteristically Burmese carved wood or molded resin, for purchase at temples and pagodas frequented by pilgrims and tourists. In urban Burma, the former capital city Mandalay showed us something that had eluded us elsewhere: a robust surviving practice of producing birth horoscopes on palm leaf, once common all over the region, now mostly supplanted by digital printouts. Palm leaf inscribing is thriving throughout Bali. In central Bali, palm leaf inscribers Pak Nyoman Daging and Wayan Basten carry forward the art form by educating the island’s youth. Both hold weekly classes where they teach school-aged students the Balinese script and then the art of inscribing traditional lontar manuscripts. Students come to class dressed in full temple clothing to pay respect to the tradition they are keeping alive. In northern Bali, a young art curator and instructor at Ganesha University, I Made Susanta Dwitanaya, encourages his university art students to use traditional techniques and materials such as those used in making the prasi (or illustrated) palm leaf pages. In addition, there continue to be artisans creating a broader range of illustrated work for the tourist trade in Tenganan. Komang Sudarma and a number of other artisans sit at the entrance to the village showing off their cutting techniques. Besides the sites of survival and of innovation, the places of production and the sales venues, we visited the trees themselves. Near Puri (Odisha, India), we witnessed a whole crew of tree climbers cutting fresh leaves from a grove of palmyra palm trees (Borassus flabellifer), ubiquitous throughout the region. In a botanical garden in Kandy (Sri Lanka), we searched for an hour to find the one lone talipot palm tree (Corypha umbraculifera), solo but magnificent. In a small forest near Matara (Sri Lanka), we were shown a tender young talipot, nurtured and cherished by the single family who supply talipot leaves for the entire island. Why should anyone make a palm leaf manuscript today? One manuscript scholar asked us that question. We could say: because the old palm leaf manuscripts and artwork are often beautiful, and the potential for that beauty lives on as a creative springboard for present and future to take further. Or: because palm leaves are a natural material that speaks to the senses with a tactile attraction, a distinctive aroma, a visual loveliness. And: because a maker can experience an embodied connection with an important cultural heritage, beyond what the mind knows and the eye sees. The contemporary work presented in this exhibition speaks for itself. Our hope is that growing appreciation of this work, even here outside its region of origin, will nurture its creative evolution and the economic health of its makers. We hope too that book arts people here will find the work inspiring, as we did.
CONTEMPORARY PALM LEAF WORK IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
7
DEDICATION
This exhibition is dedicated to Jan Baker (August 13, 1950 — April 28, 2018) Jan’s official obituary read: Artist. Alphabet. Aunt. Books. Baker. Calligrapher. Collections. Cousins. California. Design. Devoted. Daughter. Empowering. Energetic. Family. Friend. Fulbright. Generous. God-mother. Handmade. Hearts. Inquisitive. India. Italy. Judaism. Japan. Kind. Love. Lucky rocks. Lecture notes. Mark. Meditation. Maps. Mentor. Notebooks. Optimist. Professor. Polka dots. Persistent. Perfectionist. Quilts. RISD. Sister. Sabbaticals. Students. Traveler. Textiles. Tea. Thirteen. UCSC. Valentines. Venice High. Wise. X-pert. Yale. Zany… That list is so Jan, down to the ellipsis at the end of the list. Jan Baker was a well-loved member of the book arts community. She was Professor of Graphic Design at the Rhode Island School of Design from 1981. Throughout her life, Jan’s creativity affected everyone who had the good fortune to be in touch with her. She was a wonderful artist, compassionate teacher, and a great enthusiast and promoter of the handmade book. As an avid traveler, Jan spent time in many foreign countries and was particularly interested in the palm leaf books in Odissa (now Odisha), India. Her light and smile are missed as we explore the contemporary traditions of palm leaf book that Jan was also so fond of.
INDIA
Near Puri in the state of Odisha, India, Kalu Charan Bariki of the Heritage Village of Raghurajpur, Maga Nayak of Nayak Patna, and Ananta Maharana of Danda Sahi (d. 2016) were among the early students of Jagannath Mahapatra, the Raghurajpur artist commonly credited with leading the revival from mid-twentieth-century decline of the heritage arts of patachitra painting on cloth and palm leaf engraving practiced by the village forebears. All winners of government awards, these gurus have taught several later generations in their gurukul schools. Aided by early patronage and promotion efforts by the collector Halina Zealey and supported through the decades by government programs, these villages of Odisha (then called Orissa) have succeeded in developing a distinctive and dynamic arts culture that continues to evolve within tradition. The recent work renews timeless Hindu subjects, especially Krishna leela (Krishna childhood exploits) and Dasavatara (ten incarnations of Vishnu) and adds an ever-changing roster of subjects from the natural world, village life, and beyond. Among the many accomplished and innovative artists currently active, included in this exhibition are the Maharana family of Nayak Patna, Niranjan and Mamina Nayak of Hirapur, Raj Kishor Sahoo of Nayak Patna, and Narayana Bariki, Kalu’s younger brother. The youngest generation of practitioners includes an unprecedented number of young women, here represented by Manini Barik (a relative of Kalu and herself a teacher of other young women), Prabhati Mahapatra (granddaughter of Jagannath Mahapatra), and the Raghurajpur Maharana sisters Kusmara Sasmit and Rasmita.
ANANTA MAHARANA Danda Sahi, Odisha, India Big Fish Dimensions: 30”x 18” Palm leaf engraving, palmyra leaves, joined-leaf structure, double-layered
12 INDIA TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
ANANTA MAHARANA Gopi Chariot Dimensions: 30”x 18” Palm leaf engraving with painting, joined-leaf structure, double-layered, cloth backing
13 INDIA
MAGA NAYAK Nayak Patna, Odisha, India Wheel of Konark Dimensions: 41”x 25” Palm leaf engraving, palmyra leaves, joined-leaf structure, double-layered
14 INDIA TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
MAGA NAYAK Dushyanta and Shakuntala or, How to Make an India Dimensions: 29.5”x 18” Palm leaf engraving, palmyra leaves, joined-leaf structure, double-layered
15 INDIA
MAGA NAYAK & PRASANTA NAYAK Nayak Patna, Odisha, India Radha and Krishna with Secret Temple Writing (tiny Gita Govinda text forming roof) Dimensions: 17”x 14” Palm leaf engraving and painting, joined-leaf structure, double-layered palmyra leaves
16 INDIA TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
KALU CHARAN BARIKI Raghurajpur, Odisha, India Elephant Bestiary Dimensions: 30”x18” Palm leaf engraving, palmyra leaves, joined-leaf structure, double-layered with cutwork
17 INDIA
CONTEMPORARY PALM LEAF WORK IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
NARAYANA & KALU BARIKI Raghurajpur, Odisha, India Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra in Twelve Festival Costumes Dimensions: 39”x 11.5” Palm leaf engraving with painting Joined palmyra leaves, double-layered
18 INDIA TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
UNIDENTIFIED ARTIST Odisha, India Ten Incarnations of Vishnu (Dasavatara) with Gita Govinda text Dimensions: 28.5”x 9.5” Palm leaf engraving, palmyra leaves, joined-leaf structure, double-layered with cutwork and flap
19 INDIA
CONTEMPORARY PALM LEAF WORK IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
PRAMOD MAHARANA Nayak Patna, Odisha, India Krishna Childhood Stories (Krishna Leela) Dimensions: 30.5”x 18” Palm leaf engraving, palmyra leaves, joined-leaf structure, double-layered with cutwork
20 INDIA TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
BESHKA MAHARANA Nayak Patna, Odisha, India Krishna Childhood Stories (Krishna Leela) Dimensions: 30.5”x 18.5” Palm leaf engraving, palmyra leaves, joined-leaf structure, double-layered with cutwork and flaps
21 INDIA
CONTEMPORARY PALM LEAF WORK IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
PRAKOSH MAHARANA Nayak Patna, Odisha, India Shrine with Krishna Dimensions: 8.5”x 2.5” Palm leaf engraving, palmyra leaves, joined-leaf structure, double-layered with cutwork and flaps
22 INDIA TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
NIRANJAN & MAMINA NAYAK Hirapur, Odisha, India Shree Hanuman Chaleesa Dimensions: 22”x 11” Palm leaf engraving, palmyra leaves, joined-leaf structure, double-layered with cutwork
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CONTEMPORARY PALM LEAF WORK IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
INDIA
Yogini Brahmani on Pig Dimensions: 7”x 6” Palm leaf engraving, palmyra leaves, joined-leaf structure, double-layered
MAMINA NAYAK Hirapur, Odisha, India Krishna Childhood Stories (Krishna Leela) Dimensions: 16”x 14” Palm leaf engraving, palmyra leaves, joined-leaf structure, double-layered with cutwork and flaps
24 INDIA TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
RAJ KISHOR SAHOO Nayak Patna, Odisha, India How Ganesha Got His Elephant Head Dimensions: 14.5”x 14.5” Palm leaf engraving with painting, joined palmyra leaves, double-layered with cutwork, flaps, and cloth backing
25 INDIA
CONTEMPORARY PALM LEAF WORK IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
MANINI BARIK Raghurajpur, Odisha, India Three-headed Ganesha Dimensions: 31”x18” Palm leaf engraving, palmyra leaves, joined-leaf structure, double-layered
26 INDIA TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
MANINI BARIK Ganesha of Many Ganeshas Dimensions: 10.5”x 8” Palm leaf engraving, palmyra leaves, joined-leaf structure, double-layered
27 INDIA
PRABHATI MAHAPATRA Odisha, India Ten Incarnations of Vishnu (Dasavatara) with Saraswati Dimensions: 13”x 12.5” Palm leaf engraving, palmyra leaves, joined-leaf structure, double-layered with cutwork and flaps
28 INDIA TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
PRABHATI MAHAPATRA Krishna Childhood Stories (Krishna Leela) Dimensions: 28.5”x 6” Palm leaf engraving, palmyra leaves, joined-leaf structure, double-layered with cutwork
29 INDIA
KUMARA SASMIT MAHARANA Raghurajpur, Odisha, India Ramayana Dimensions: 15”x 14.5” Palm leaf engraving, palmyra leaves, joined-leaf structure, double-layered with cutwork
30 INDIA TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
KUMARA SASMIT & RASMITA MAHARANA Raghurajpur, Odisha, India All the Animals Dimensions: 10”x 8” Palm leaf engraving, palmyra leaves, joined-leaf structure, double-layered with cutwork
31 INDIA
CONTEMPORARY PALM LEAF WORK IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
KALU CHARAN BARIKI Raghurajpur, Odisha, India Ten Incarnations of Vishnu (Dasavatara) with Ganesha Dimensions: 13.5”x 12” Palm leaf engraving in progress, uninked, joined-leaf structure, double-layered with flaps
32 INDIA TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
Tools and Materials Lekhani (stylus for inscribing) Iron, custom blacksmithed
BALI
More than fifteen families are making lontar in the Bali Aga village of Tenganan. Among them are Komang Sudarma, Ketut Murti and Kadek Ardita. Their work for the tourist trade ranges from maps of Bali to popular deities, as well as the traditional illustrated highlights of the Ramayana. Further into the town is Wayan Muditadnana, who now at 88 years old still creates more traditional textual lontar. He started in the 1950s as a Balinese letter writer. His work is widely collected, but with each manuscript taking almost a year to complete, they are rare. Singaraja is not only the home of Gedong Kirtya palm leaf library, but also the home of Ganesha University (Undiksha), where under the direction of I Made Susanta Dwitanaya, a number of young artists are exploring new ways of creating palm leaf work inspired by the prasi master Gusti Bagus Sudiasta, including: I Wayan Trisnayana, I Putu Nana Partha Wijaya, Putu Dudik Ariawan and Ida Bagus Shindu Prasetya. Across Bali, a number of village schools have been created to help preserve the techniques of palm leaf inscription with the financial assistance of Bay Area Bali linguist David Patten. Pak Nyoman Daging in the village of Kintamani hosts classes of several dozen children who gather in temple garb to sit in an open air class pavillion. Nearby you can see the fire where candlenuts are being roasted to make the ink for the lontar. In Tegallalang, closer to the cultural center of the island, Wayan Basten teaches his class of devoted younger students more basic techniques; their enthusiasm is contagious. In tandem, efforts have been made over the last decade to digitize all the Balinese lontar, which has also led to increased interest in the older lontar. In 2010, the Internet Archive, with the help of Wesleyan Professor Ron Jenkins, launched the Balinese scanning project, with the aim of making the cultural heritage of Bali available to a larger audience. The work continues today, thanks to the PanLex, a project at the Long Now Foundation, and the efforts of David Kamholz and Ben Yang, who are helping to put these works into Unicode.
KOMANG SUDARMA Tenganan, Bali, Indonesia Saraswati Dimensions: 16.25”x 6” Palm Leaf drawing (palmyra leaves)
36 BALI TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
Barong 14.5”x 6” Palm Leaf drawing (palmyra leaves)
KOMANG SUDARMA Ramayana Dimensions: 32”x8” Palm Leaf drawing (palmyra leaves)
37 BALI
UNIDENTIFIED ARTIST Probably from Tenganan, Bali, Indonesia Various images from the Ramayana Dimensions: 1.5”x 14.5” 9 pages Palm Leaf drawing (palmyra leaves)
38 BALI TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
Tools and Materials Varnished covers with palmyra palm leaf inscribed, candlenut (raw and charcoaled) Available at Delta De Wata, and pengutiks (Balinese incising knives)
WAYAN MUDITADNANA Tenganan, Bali, Indonesia Excerpts from the Mahabharata Dimensions: 1.5” x 18” 19 pages Lontar (palmyra leaves)
39 BALI
CONTEMPORARY PALM LEAF WORK IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
GUSTI BAGUS SUDIASTA Singaraja, Bali, Indonesia Ramayana Dimensions: 1.5”x 20” 11 pages Prasi lontar (palmyra leaves)
40 BALI TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
PUTU DUDIK ARIAWAN Singaraja, Bali, Indonesia Ritual of Pandan War Dimensions: 8”x 15.7.5” Prasi lontar (palmyra leaves)
41 BALI
CONTEMPORARY PALM LEAF WORK IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
IDA BAGUS SHINDU PRASETYA Singaraja, Bali, Indonesia Garuda Wisnu Dimensions: 13.5”x 16.5” Mixed media palmyra palm leaves and copper plate
42 BALI TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
I WAYAN TRISNAYANA Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia Born of Ganesha Dimensions: 10.75”x 12” Prasi lontar (palmyra leaves)
43 BALI
CONTEMPORARY PALM LEAF WORK IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
PUTU NANA PARTHA WIJAYA Tabanan, Bali, Indonesia Love Story Jaya Prana and Layonsari Dimensions: 27.25”x 10” Prasi lontar (palmyra leaves)
44 BALI TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
GUSTI NGURAH AGUNG Under the supervision of Supartama Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia Pararaton Book of Kings Dimensions: Box 3.5” x 13.75” x 3.75” Dimensions: Book 1.5” x 12” approx 70 pages Lontar (palmyra leaves) in carved Chimpaka wood box
45 BALI
CONTEMPORARY PALM LEAF WORK IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
WAYAN MERTA Under the supervision of Sariani Batuan, Bali, Indonesia Kaputusan Smar Dimensions: Box 3.5” x 14” x 4.25” Dimensions: Book 1.75” x 12.25” approx 60 pages Lontar (palmyra leaves) in carved Chimpaka wood box
46 BALI TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
Pawacakan Rare Dimensions: 1.5”x 12.5” Laser-cut lontar (palmyra leaves)
47 BALI
CONTEMPORARY PALM LEAF WORK IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
Digitalisasi Lontar, Commemorating the Internet Archive’s Bali Digitization Project Dimensions: 21”x 12.25” Laser-cut lontar (palmyra leaves)
48 BALI TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
SRI LANKA
Aluvihare Rock Temple is renowned as the historic site where the complete Buddhist Pali canon was first written on ola (palm leaves) in the 1st c. BCE. The library where these manuscripts were stored was destroyed in 1848, leading to a second Tripitaka transcription by an international group of monks in the 1970s. Today’s Aluvihare monks tend the library, pass on the knowledge of how to make palm leaf manuscripts, and produce manuscripts for sale to visitors, like the one in this exhibition. Upali Fernando left a National Museum position to devote himself to calligraphy on ola. He learned traditional methods, including the notched left thumbnail, from the late monk teacher Naotunne Sumanarathana. As a palm leaf scribe of the Buddha’s teachings, he reaches out to international visitors and pilgrims by writing in English.
UNIDENTIFIED MONK Aluvihare Rock Temple, Sri Lanka Dhammacakkappavatana Sutta Dimensions: 2.25”x 13.5” Manuscript in Pali language, Sinhala script, Ola (talipot palm leaves) with carved wood covers
52 SRI LANKA TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
UPALI FERNANDO Ambalangoda, Sri Lanka Astrological images Dimensions: 5”x 12” Ola (talipot palm leaves)
53 SRI LANKA
CONTEMPORARY PALM LEAF WORK IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
UPALI FERNANDO Ambalangoda, Sri Lanka Sinhala alphabet Dimensions: 10.5”x 8.5” Ola (talipot palm leaves)
54 SRI LANKA TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
Large roll of ola (talipot palm leaves, Corypha umbraculifera) Prepared by the Sarath Kumara Manchanayake family, Alawwa, Sri Lanka Dimensions: 13.5�diameter
Tools and Materials Five panhindas (stylus for incising) Ink ingredients: sticks and chips from gaduma tree (Trema orientalis) for making charcoal for ink Ink ingredients: dummala oil and dorana oil from Dipterocarpus trees for making ink
55 SRI LANKA
CONTEMPORARY PALM LEAF WORK IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
THAILAND
Phra Maha Prasert Siriboonyo makes traditional Buddhist manuscripts at Wat Chom Thong near Chiang Mai. He especially likes to write the lives of the Buddha, as in the Vessantara Jataka leaf shown in this exhibition. S. Dhumphakdi & Sons, booksellers of Bangkok, publish Buddhist texts in editions printed letterpress on top quality talipot leaves. They also supply fully prepared blank leaves with traditional red lacquer and gold leaf edge treatment. Inspired by the Lanna heritage of the Northern Thailand/Laos/Cambodia region, Lipikorn Makaew began using bai lan (palm leaf) as a material and palm leaf engraving as a method when he was a grad student. Now a much-exhibited prize-winning artist, he is Associate Professor on the Faculty of Fine Arts and Architecture at Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna Northern Campus in Chiang Mai.
PHRA MAHA PRASERT SIRIBOONYO Wat Chom Thong, Thailand Vessantara Jataka Dimensions: 2”x 22” (with woven cover) Manuscript in Pali language on talipot leaf (bai lan)
58 THAILAND TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
PUBLISHED BY S. DHUMPHAKDI & SONS Bangkok, Thailand Regarding a Room (Jataka story) Dimensions: 1.5”x 19” Letterpress on talipot palm leaves (bai lan)
Regarding a White Egret (Jataka story) Dimensions: 1.5 x 19” Letterpress on talipot palm leaves (bai lan)
59 THAILAND
CONTEMPORARY PALM LEAF WORK IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
LIPIKORN MAKAEW Chiang Mai, Thailand A Thought of Moment, 2019 Dimensions: 19.7” x 19.7” Engraving and gold leaf on talipot palm leaves (bai lan)
60 THAILAND TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
LIPIKORN MAKAEW The 4 Elements of Life, 2019 Dimensions: 19.7” x 19.7” Engraving and gold leaf on talipot palm leaves (bai lan)
61 THAILAND
Tools and Materials Talipot leaf roll (Corypha umbraculifera) Board for incising and making holes Tool for incising
62 THAILAND TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
BURMA (MYANMAR)
In his household workshop in Mandalay, Ye Win Naing inscribes traditional birth horoscopes like these for Mary and Betsy on palm leaves, with astrological work by the astrologer monk U Ponnya of Poppa Monastery, Mandalay. Several segments of palmyra or talipot leaves with midribs intact are inserted inside each other and sewn together to create a sturdy horoscope structure intended to last a lifetime or more. Prepared segments are supplied in the market of Mahamuni Pagoda, Mandalay. We met Al Wine and his father U Cho at the red teak monastery Shwe Yan Pyay, not far from Ywar Ma, their village of many artists near Lake Inle in central Burma. Their work makes new what is old, not only because their craft practices are inherited and their cultural content traditional, but also because new talipot leaves are sewn back-to-back to old leaves already inscribed with Burmese script from monastic school notebook manuscripts never intended for long term preservation and now a backing for timeless Buddhist and astrological images.
YE WIN NAING Mandalay, Burma Mary’s and Betsy’s horoscopes Dimensions: 5”x 11” Talipot leaves
66 BURMA TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
Palm leaf sections ready to insert for making horoscope. Horoscope supplies from pagoda market
UNIDENTIFIED ARTIST Probably Ywar Ma, Burma Auspicious Animals Dimensions: 20”x 3” Talipot leaves, red lacquer covers with gold Buddha
67 BURMA
CONTEMPORARY PALM LEAF WORK IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
U CHO Ywar Ma, Burma Auspicious Animals Dimensions: 20”x 3.5” Talipot leaves, black carved wood covers with elephant
68 BURMA TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
AL WINE Ywar Ma, Burma Dharma Wheel Dimensions: 20.5”x 6.5” Talipot leaves, red lacquer cover with gold elephant
69 BURMA
CONTEMPORARY PALM LEAF WORK IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
UNIDENTIFIED ARTIST Probably Ywar Ma, Burma Eight Victories of the Buddha Dimensions: 18.5”x 6” Talipot leaves, red lacquer cover with gold elephant
70 BURMA TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
U CHO Ywar Ma, Burma Victories Dimensions: 20.5”x 6.5” Talipot leaves, red lacquer covers with gold
71 BURMA
CONTEMPORARY PALM LEAF WORK IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
UNIDENTIFIED ARTIST Probably Ywar Ma, Burma Victories and Auspicious Animals Dimensions: 20”x 9.5” Talipot leaves, mahogany cover with elephant
72 BURMA TURNING OVER AN OLD LEAF
UNIDENTIFIED ARTIST Probably Ywar Ma, Burma Life of Buddha with Auspicious Zodiac Animals Dimensions: 28”x 19.5” Talipot leaves, mahogany covers carved with elephant
73 BURMA
CONTEMPORARY PALM LEAF WORK IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
CURATORS’ BIOGRAPHIES
Mary Austin has been a supporter and advocate for printing and the book arts for over 35 years. After helping to start two printing museums, and founding the Underground Press, she co-founded the San Francisco Center for the Book in 1996 with Kathleen Burch. Austin was a founding organizer with the Internet Archive’s Palm Leaf Digitization project in Bali. More recently she has been studying and collecting palm leaf manuscripts from India, Sri Lanka, Burma, and Thailand. Betsy Davids taught book art and writing from 1968 through 2010 at California College of the Arts (formerly California College of Arts and Crafts), where she is now Professor Emerita. Her Rebis Press, in partnership with James Petrillo, is known for innovative 1970s editions of work by new writers and artists in then-uncommon structures and materials, concluding in the 1980s with her own dream memoir, Dreaming Aloud. After several subsequent decades of handwritten and handmade artist books, she hopes to devote the next few years to making her own palm leaf books.
RESOURCE LIST
Ameling, Fred. The Holy Books of Bali on Lontar Palm Leaves. Lulu, 2010. Das, J. P. Chitra-pothi: Illustrated Palm-leaf Manuscripts from Orissa. Niyogi Books, 2007. Das, J. P., and Joanna Williams. Palm-Leaf Miniatures: the Art of Raghunath Prusti of Orissa. Abhinav, 1991. Davids, Betsy. “From Palm Leaf to Book: A South Asia Quest,” Printing History: the Journal of the American Printing History Association, New Series No. 10 (July 2011), 25-37. Guy, John, and Om Prakash Agrawal. Palm-Leaf and Paper: Illustrated Manuscripts of India and Southeast Asia. National Gallery of Victoria, 1982. Malla, Dr. Bhagyalipi. Descriptive Catalogue of Illustrated Manuscripts. Orissa State Museum Platinum Jubilee Publication, 2007. Patnaik, Durga Prashad. Palm-Leaf Etchings of Orissa. Abhinav Publications, 1989.
Web References: For bibliography and project to translate balinese lontar, <http://palmleaf.org> for demonstration of palm leaf engraving as practiced in Odisha, India, <https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pBCuiwv6jTI> Exhibition artist Niranjan Nayak demonstrates and shows his work, <https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2wYJEx1Tcr8> Prasanna Nayak, son of exhibition artist Maga Nayak, talks about the palm leaf work of his village, Nayak Patna, <https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=uKxiz4aZktI> Buddhist monks make palm leaf manuscripts in Sri Lanka. Demonstration begins at 00:02:38, <https://m.youtube.com/ watch?v=1G7Nd5Y6UCE>
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Of course none of this would have been possible without the incredible support and help we received from the following people and institutions: INDIA Joanna Williams Purna Chandra Mishra Bibek Mishra Kalu Charan Bariki and Narayana Bariki Maga Nayak family BA LI Made Susanta Dwitanaya Gedong Kirtya in Singaraja David Patten Made Perings Wayan Basten Pak Nyoman Daging Wayan Mudtadrana SRI LA N KA John Cole Upali Fernando Palm Leaf Manuscript Study and Research Library at the University of Kelaniya Prof. A.H.M.H. Abayarathna Prof. Sunanda Madduma Bandara L.A. Jayatissa T H A I LA N D Trent Walker Buddhist Digital Resource Center, Bangkok S. Dhumphakdi and Sons Publishing House Judith Duncan Direk Injan Suchanart Sitanurak Piyapat Jarusawat Palm Leaf Studies Center at Chiang Mai Rajabhat University Phra Maha Prasert Siripunno at Wat Phra That Si Chom Thong BU RMA (MYAN MAR) Snow Amir Saber Esfahani I N T E RN E T A RC H I VE Ron Jenkins Pan Lex (David Kamholz and Ben Yang)
COLOPHON
DESIGN
Ingalls Design, San Francisco Christopher Jordan, Tracy Liu & Thomas Ingalls PHOTOGR AP H Y
Nina Zeininger TYPO GR AP H Y
Proxima Soft by Mark Simonson PA PER
80# Royal Sundance Felt Cover and 100# dull coated Text PRIN TING AND BIND ING
Autumn Press, Berkeley
$20.00 ISBN 978-1-929646-17-3
52000>
9 781929 646173