On Sunday, August 9, Maya Soetoro-Ng, President Obama’s sister, joined the Ambassador of Indonesia, Textile Museum Board President Bruce P. Baganz, CEO Maryclaire Ramsey and other distinguished guests for a private brunch at The Textile Museum to celebrate the opening of A Lady Found a Culture in its Cloth: Barack Obama’s Mother and Indonesian Batiks.
The museum’s classic marble foyer, overlooking the garden, provided a beautiful setting for guests to mingle and enjoy refreshing white sangria and juice. At noon, as Soetoro-Ng arrived, guests were invited to enter the museum’s elegant Myers Room to see the exhibition and hear remarks.
Bruce P. Baganz, president of The Textile Museum Board of Trustees, began the program with welcoming remarks, explaining the museum’s mission—to “expand public knowledge and appreciation of the textile arts.” Maryclaire Ramsey, the museum’s new chief executive officer, then took to the podium, saying “Today we celebrate our friendship with Indonesians and a remarkable woman, Ann Dunham, whose pieces we see here in A Lady Found a Culture in its Cloth: Barack Obama’s Mother and Indonesian Batiks.”
Following her remarks, Ramsey introduced Mattiebelle Gittinger, The Textile Museum’s research associate and “the world’s leading scholar on Southeast Asian and South Asian textiles.” Gittinger curated the exhibition and will be honored with the museum’s George Hewitt Myers Award this fall in recognition of her lifetime achievement and exceptional contributions furthering the field of textile arts. Gittinger spoke of Ann Dunham as a woman who deeply understood and appreciated Indonesian culture.
Gittinger then invited Soetoro-Ng to share her personal insight into her mother’s love of batik. Soetoro-Ng said her mother, an anthropologist who lived in Indonesia with her young son Barack Obama in the late 1960s and early 1970s, “would be honored” to see her collection recognized in this way. Soetoro-Ng—who arrived in Washington only two days prior to the event—also expressed her gratitude at the warm welcome her family has received.
To close the event program, a representative of the Cita Tenun Indonesia, the Indonesian Hand-Woven Association, presented Maryclaire Ramsey with a richly colored, 100-year-old Indonesian batik—a beautiful gift for The Textile Museum. Guests then enjoyed a sumptuous brunch while seated in the museum’s elegantly paneled Garrett Room or in the garden, stopping to enjoy a traditional batik demonstration. Following the brunch, the museum—and the exhibition—officially opened to the public.
This event followed a festive gala dinner held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on Saturday, August 8, presented by the Indonesian Embassy and the Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board, and made possible in part by The Textile Museum, the U.S.-Indonesia Society (USINDO), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the USASEAN Business Council and the Asia Society.
The gala event featured the display of the Ann Dunham batik collection as well as traditional Indonesian textiles provided by the Cita Tenun Indonesia, the Indonesian Hand-Woven Association. During the dinner program, guests enjoyed a fashion show by one of the two top young Indonesian designers—Priyo Octaviano—as well as performances of traditional Indonesian dance and an exotic angklung orchestra. A special treat was the saxophone performance of the Indonesian Ambassador himself.
The exhibition A Lady Found a Culture in its Cloth: Barack Obama’s Mother and Indonesian Batiks, will remain on view at The Textile Museum through August 23, 2009.
