Funerary cloth or ceremonial hanging (sekomandi)

The dynamic red and blue patterns of this textile compete for attention, pulling one’s eyes from foreground to background. The central pattern, with its vibrant hooks and arrow shapes has been described as representing generations of ancestors. Weavers used the ikat technique of dyeing threads before weaving to make the motifs and double plied the warp thread to strengthen the graphic vibrancy of the textile.

This bold textile was made by weavers in the highlands of southwest Sulawesi. Funerary ceremonies of the Toraja, Rongkong, and Mangki people are among the most complex in Indonesia, requiring great expense and months of preparation. The body of the deceased would sometimes be kept for weeks or months before preparations were complete. A textile like this could have been used as a shroud or as a ceremonial banner.