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Gnanasekaran

"Hello. My name is Gnanasekaran and I was born on February 3, 1958 in southern India. As a child, I was always fascinated by electrical gadgets, and this lead me to study mechanical engineering. Besides fiddling with electronic gadgets, I also love painting and shopping.

"After I finished my studies, I happened to chance upon Mr. Abdul Rahim who was already actively involved in social work. He was an expert in batik work and I began to learn this art from him. Although I have a degree in engineering, I couldn't stay away from this mesmerizing art. So, together with Rahim, we formed an organization where we work as a non-profitable self-employment organization. We started imparting the batik technique to hundreds of women villagers.

"Basically, batik is simple but time consuming. However at the end, you have a wonderful piece of art. We use cotton fabric, while paraffin and beeswax can be used singly or in combination. The tools to be used in the application of the hot wax must also be chosen. The last material to select is the dye or dyes to be used. The biggest consideration when choosing a dye for batik is that it must be a cold water dye. There are many different colors and types of dyes available, and the selection is left to personal preference.

"Most of our batik arts have southern and northern Indian cultural significance. For example, in dance, we cover Bharatha Natyam, which is a south Indian cultural manifestation. Most of our batik wall hangings focus on south Indian culture.

"Our range of exquisite work has been exhibited locally, and I am glad to be associated with Novica. It is a golden opportunity for arts and crafts people like me, as not everyone can market, sell or introduce their products internationally. In the future, I am planning to teach this traditional technique to all art lovers. We are also contemplating introducing batik on garments and linen."