TAASA TEXTILE STUDY GROUP, NSW – TAASA Review March 2019

Ross Langlands presenting at the NSW Textile Study Group event (L-R) Blair Toppenberg, Penny Bailey, Ruby Rolleston, Sushma Griffin, Sonia Uranishi and Peter Ridley at the TAASA Qld end of year event 13 November, 2018 Austronesian Migrations and the Textiles and Sculptures of Southeast Asia Our final speaker for the year, Ross Langlands, addressed a packed room of some 50 attendees and kept everyone engrossed by his overview of how the earliest southward migrations of Austronesians some four millennia ago saw the dissemination of construction, weaving and artistic techniques, motifs and beliefs in Southeast Asian societies. Using images, sculptures and fine textiles, Ross focused on Indonesia where he has visited for decades.

He noted that in many instances, new technologies and beliefs were syncretized into existing practices.

Belief in the animist cosmos was reflected in house architecture and house groupings and shared by such groups as the Batak and the Minangabau in Sumatra...