Baobei: Matang Gejia

In Matang village, life is in textiles. The Gejia have no traditional written script of their own. Instead history has been carried through batik. The sun, moon, mother nature's gifts... The entire world that swirls around them is drawn onto cloth. Everything can become a motif, and every motif holds meaning.

We spent an afternoon with master artisan Yang Zhengying, moving through her studio as she displayed pieces from the past and showed us what she is working on now. Everything led back to the ancestors.

Looking at her work, we felt something very familiar about it: the way the motifs are laid out, the motifs themselves (spirals, diamonds, repetition). The reverence for plants, animals, food, the cosmos. Across the world, people without written scripts have found similar ways to remember and hold. In the Andes, Indigenous communities have woven stories, identity and ancestral belief into their textiles. In the Amazon, the Shipibo-Konibo developed their own intricate visual language of pattern. And here in Matang, the Gejia draw theirs in wax.

Are we really so different? Our ancestors looked at the same sun. They prayed under the same moon. They grew food, watched the seasons change, raised babies, buried their parents... wondered where they came from... and found ways to leave their knowledge behind. 

Yang's family was there with us that afternoon. Her daughter is pictured here beside her. Her grandchildren moved in and out of the studio, mostly absorbed in their phones or riding bikes outside. When we asked if they were learning batik, she answered quite bluntly: no. None of them had chosen to learn the craft.

Yet... she continues. Drawing the stories of her people onto cloth, one line at a time.

Shop what we collected along the way. 

Creative Direction: Kelly Wang Shanahan (@theziran)
Photography: Jess Foley (@fauxly)

Shot in Guizhou, China. April 2024.