Indigo Retreat
Art Director, Editor, Videographer
Six days at a farm in West Java, surrounded by a small plot of Indigofera tinctoria that we harvest, ferment, and transform into an indigo vat. Over the course of the week, we follow the process from plant to pigment to colour, eventually using the vat we made to dye blues and patterns designed, drawn, and stamped by hand.
Most people who dye with indigo buy their pigment dried and ground, and most people who learn batik begin with a ready-made vat. Here, the process starts from the beginning, allowing each step to unfold in its own time.
The first captures the reveal of the participants’ final indigo pieces, focusing on the transformation of their patterns and colours through the dyeing process.
The second turns participants’ testimonies and conversations into a story, weaving their voices into the journey from harvesting the plant and making the vat to creating their own pieces.
The third takes a more atmospheric approach, exploring the mood and feeling of indigo through colour, textures, hands, materials, and the surrounding landscape.