TOURISM AND THE HINGGI DESIGN OF EAST SUMBA: A STUDY ON THE AESTHETICAL MORPHOLOGY OF COLORS AND MOTIFS OF TRADITIONAL CLOTHS

In Indonesia, the tourism business, international tourism in particular, had been proceeding since the beginning of the 20th century and was increasingly confirming its existence during the period of the 1970-ies up to the 1990-ies due to the government planned development policy at that time. The development had impacted considerably on various sectors related to the country’s culture, especially on the local people’s traditional art in tourists receiving areas. Particular tourist destination areas have experienced certain changes in the orientation of production, from meeting the needs of internal cultures to serving the demands of external tourism established markets. This paper discusses the development of motifs of a specific traditional cloth produced by the East Sumba people in the years 1900 – 2000. During the span of the respective 100 years, the visual appearance of the cloth, hinggi, had undergone changes due to external influences coming along with tourism. It transformed from its idealistic or traditional characteristics to having certain commercial attributes as shown by the morphology of its design or motifs. Besides, the cloth functions had also changed from a traditional object of textile to become a souvenir for use as an interior decoration element.