AN ETHNOMATHEMATICAL STUDY ON CONTEMPORARY BATIK DESIGN USING ALTERNATIVE RESISTANCE

Abstract

Ethnomathematics is a study of the application of mathematical thinking into the culture of a group of people in a specific country. It is a new field of study and has given a lot of contribution to the country. In this paper, the ethnomathematics study is focusing on motifs of contemporary batik design by using alternative resistance, which is a new resistance tool that has such as iron brush, copper cake mold, paper box, and wooden broom was invented by Mr. Junaidi Awang, the lecturer of Art and Design, UiTMCK. This new invention is purposely designed to help the poor and skillful batik workers to do the batik design. It is qualitative research by employing the triangulation method to comprising observation, interview, analysis of the motifs on contemporary batik designs via alternative resistance. The results showed that by using an iron brush the resulting motifs are circles arranged in a tessellation. By using copper cake mold, the motifs produced are hexagons arranged in tessellation and rotation. By using a paper box, the motifs created are half square-shaped arranged in tessellation, and last but not least by using a wooden broom, circle-shaped motifs exist arranged in tessellation. It is suggested that future research can be applied to readily available and cost-effective recycled materials.