KOTA BHARU, April 12 (Bernama) — Despite being a tedious task, batik artist Ahmad Fathil Othman, 47, is determined to preserve this artistic heritage for its aesthetic value so that it does not become obsolete.
His interest in batik art since primary school had made him strive to be a batik artist as a source of income because handicraft art was very synonymous with the state of Kelantan.
“After completing the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia, I started looking for a part-time job as my family was not well-to-do. Thankfully, at that time my best friend Hayuza Ibrahim, 46, offered me a job as a batik painter in a shop owned by his family.
“From there, my career as a batik painter began where I took about a week to master the ins and outs of painting methods,” he said when met by reporters at his batik studio in Bazar Tok Guru, here today.
Ahmad Fathil added after a year of working as a batik painter, he enrolled in an 18-month batik course at the Institut Kemahiran Baitulmal in Kuala Lumpur in 1997 to further enhance his knowledge formally in the art of batik.
He said, after successfully completing the skills course at level one, he focused on painting batik motifs because he realised that it has its own value not many people are able to see.
“The process of batik painting is quite complicated because it has to go through several processes including using melted wax to pattern the fabric, mixing the colours, sealing the colours and drying.
“Cotton fabric is my choice because it is easy to use because it can retain colour easily when painted. In fact, for each pattern, I will use wax in my batik pen up to seven layers to ensure the quality of the colour is beautiful,” said Ahmad Fathil who had won several awards including the Seri Endon Cup and is a Batik Craft icon 2021.
The father of two said, so far he has produced almost 2,000 batik motif paintings that are sold for as low as RM600 and can reach up to RM21,000.
“Each of these paintings will take around a week to produce and the longest takes over a month depending on the size and pattern, especially when using a special technique to create the most popular and long-lasting pattern.
“My artwork has also received requests from foreign tourists from France, the Kelantan State Museum, the Embassy in Dubai, as well as dignitaries such as the Minister of Finance, Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz,” said Ahmad Fathil who had also participated in a series of international exhibitions in Singapore, Indonesia, China, Italy and France.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency