The Golden Cord

Ten women artists from Utopia, a remote Aboriginal community in central Australia, were invited to Brahma Tirta Sari, a leading batik studio in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The Utopia women were already skilled batik artists. However, this visit enabled the practice of new techniques and the chance to prepare for a major exhibition. In turn, their Javanese hosts, Agus Ismoyo and his US-born wife, Nia Fliam, came to the central Australian desert where the Utopia women showed them their country, the source of their physical sustenance and the meaning of their lives.