This mini-exhibition at the TRC is curated by Minsook Kang, who is an intern at the TRC. She is a visual artist and researcher working across textiles, moving images, installations and publications. She explores stories, memory, and embodied knowledge through forms of care, attention, and material engagement. In the summer of 2026 she visited the island of Buton in Sulawesi Province, Indonesia.
Producing sarongs on the island of Buton. Photograph courtesy Minsook Kang.
A Language of the Hands - Embodied Knowledge and Transmitted Memory in Indonesian Buton Sarongs explores the Buton sarong as a form of embodied and transmitted knowledge.
Drawing on TRC collections and fieldwork in Baubau, the island's capital, the exhibition traces how patterns, motifs, weaving practices, and memories that are transmitted across generations through speech, observation, and the hands. As a strong oral tradition culture, the sarong emerges as a living textile language shaped by everyday life, nature, and generations of makers.
A Language of the Hands can be visited until 30 Oct 2026. The TRC is open every weekday from 10.00 to 15.00.
