ACM Conversations: Hidden Hybridity: Analysing Local and Foreign Materials on a Minangkabau Headdress
Lectures In-Museum
Thurs Mar 28 2024, 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM SGT
The Minangkabau from the highlands of West Sumatra form the world’s largest matrilineal society. Family property, land, and heirlooms pass down from mothers to daughters. A Minangkabau headdress in Singapore’s National Collection epitomises the community’s identity, and features a combination of local and imported materials that sheds light on the complex cultural and commercial interactions of the late 19th to early 20th centuries. Hidden from view, an adhesive was used to line two imported cloths to the underside the headdress. In this talk, a conservator, curator, and conservation scientist will present an integrated analysis of the headdress. They will reveal how gold, natural resin, machine-printed cottons from Europe, and brocades of Indian or possibly European origin were integral to the production of Minangkabau material culture.
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