TheMatriarchX
@thematriarchx.bsky.social
Decolonial stories of Southeast Asian matriarchs | Reclaiming bodies, histories, & autonomy from colonial shame | Poet-historian. DM for collab
Nadal #851. Bali, c. 1910. Preparation, not performance.
Real. Fictional breath.
Ratna, Luh Ayu, and Sari turn cloth at the courtyard edge, wrists sure, hips aligned, breath counting the pull; three bodies, one inherited rhythm.
Real. Fictional breath.
Ratna, Luh Ayu, and Sari turn cloth at the courtyard edge, wrists sure, hips aligned, breath counting the pull; three bodies, one inherited rhythm.
January 12, 2026 at 10:27 AM
Nadal #851. Bali, c. 1910. Preparation, not performance.
Real. Fictional breath.
Ratna, Luh Ayu, and Sari turn cloth at the courtyard edge, wrists sure, hips aligned, breath counting the pull; three bodies, one inherited rhythm.
Real. Fictional breath.
Ratna, Luh Ayu, and Sari turn cloth at the courtyard edge, wrists sure, hips aligned, breath counting the pull; three bodies, one inherited rhythm.
Nadal #836. Samoa, c. 1895. He called this exposure.
Real. Fictional breath.
Fuamoa stands front-facing before the thatch wall, spine steady, gaze level, wind lifting the fringe of palm; one body, one shoreline.
Real. Fictional breath.
Fuamoa stands front-facing before the thatch wall, spine steady, gaze level, wind lifting the fringe of palm; one body, one shoreline.
January 10, 2026 at 9:29 PM
Nadal #836. Samoa, c. 1895. He called this exposure.
Real. Fictional breath.
Fuamoa stands front-facing before the thatch wall, spine steady, gaze level, wind lifting the fringe of palm; one body, one shoreline.
Real. Fictional breath.
Fuamoa stands front-facing before the thatch wall, spine steady, gaze level, wind lifting the fringe of palm; one body, one shoreline.
Stieng Woman. 🌴
Annam - Moi women from the Dalat area.
1927-1937
She stands barefoot by that tree wearing her wrapped skirt, layered necklaces, arm coils stacked high. Not for your camera. Not for validation. This was daily existence before modesty became mandatory.
Annam - Moi women from the Dalat area.
1927-1937
She stands barefoot by that tree wearing her wrapped skirt, layered necklaces, arm coils stacked high. Not for your camera. Not for validation. This was daily existence before modesty became mandatory.
January 10, 2026 at 2:34 PM
Stieng Woman. 🌴
Annam - Moi women from the Dalat area.
1927-1937
She stands barefoot by that tree wearing her wrapped skirt, layered necklaces, arm coils stacked high. Not for your camera. Not for validation. This was daily existence before modesty became mandatory.
Annam - Moi women from the Dalat area.
1927-1937
She stands barefoot by that tree wearing her wrapped skirt, layered necklaces, arm coils stacked high. Not for your camera. Not for validation. This was daily existence before modesty became mandatory.
Young Stieng woman in the forest, hand on hip, smiling straight at the camera. 1930-37. 🌿
She isn't shy. She isn't asking to be fixed. Short wrap skirt, beads on her chest, bare skin meeting sunlight. This was normal before they called it immodest.
She isn't shy. She isn't asking to be fixed. Short wrap skirt, beads on her chest, bare skin meeting sunlight. This was normal before they called it immodest.
January 10, 2026 at 3:16 AM
Young Stieng woman in the forest, hand on hip, smiling straight at the camera. 1930-37. 🌿
She isn't shy. She isn't asking to be fixed. Short wrap skirt, beads on her chest, bare skin meeting sunlight. This was normal before they called it immodest.
She isn't shy. She isn't asking to be fixed. Short wrap skirt, beads on her chest, bare skin meeting sunlight. This was normal before they called it immodest.
Nadal #781. Nilgiri foothills, c. 1910. She refused the front-facing lie.
Real. Fictional breath.
Kavitha turns in profile against a washed wall, spine long, chin lifted, light slipping across skin and shadow; one body, one horizon.
Real. Fictional breath.
Kavitha turns in profile against a washed wall, spine long, chin lifted, light slipping across skin and shadow; one body, one horizon.
January 9, 2026 at 10:30 PM
Nadal #781. Nilgiri foothills, c. 1910. She refused the front-facing lie.
Real. Fictional breath.
Kavitha turns in profile against a washed wall, spine long, chin lifted, light slipping across skin and shadow; one body, one horizon.
Real. Fictional breath.
Kavitha turns in profile against a washed wall, spine long, chin lifted, light slipping across skin and shadow; one body, one horizon.
Nadal #742. Java, c. 1905. A market that fed itself.
Fake. Fictional breath.
Sariyah sits mid-frame at the morning market, bare earth under her feet, woven baskets breathing grain and fruit, smoke and chatter hanging low; forty bodies, one moving stomach.
Fake. Fictional breath.
Sariyah sits mid-frame at the morning market, bare earth under her feet, woven baskets breathing grain and fruit, smoke and chatter hanging low; forty bodies, one moving stomach.
January 8, 2026 at 10:33 AM
Nadal #742. Java, c. 1905. A market that fed itself.
Fake. Fictional breath.
Sariyah sits mid-frame at the morning market, bare earth under her feet, woven baskets breathing grain and fruit, smoke and chatter hanging low; forty bodies, one moving stomach.
Fake. Fictional breath.
Sariyah sits mid-frame at the morning market, bare earth under her feet, woven baskets breathing grain and fruit, smoke and chatter hanging low; forty bodies, one moving stomach.
Saigon or Phnom Penh (?): compartments of the indigenous neighborhoods, street vendors tucked into colonial sidewalks. 🌿
December 29, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Saigon or Phnom Penh (?): compartments of the indigenous neighborhoods, street vendors tucked into colonial sidewalks. 🌿
Nadal #1006. Kalinga highlands, c. 1912. We Withheld on purpose.
The image would travel faster than the truth. So the image stays back.
Colonial photography trained the eye to consume.
This archive trains it to pause.
Nothing is lost here.
Something is protected.
This is not silence.
The image would travel faster than the truth. So the image stays back.
Colonial photography trained the eye to consume.
This archive trains it to pause.
Nothing is lost here.
Something is protected.
This is not silence.
December 29, 2025 at 6:33 AM
Nadal #1006. Kalinga highlands, c. 1912. We Withheld on purpose.
The image would travel faster than the truth. So the image stays back.
Colonial photography trained the eye to consume.
This archive trains it to pause.
Nothing is lost here.
Something is protected.
This is not silence.
The image would travel faster than the truth. So the image stays back.
Colonial photography trained the eye to consume.
This archive trains it to pause.
Nothing is lost here.
Something is protected.
This is not silence.
Ni Nyoman Pollok. Born March 1917, Denpasar, Bali. 🌺🔥
Famous legong dancer. Fifteen years old when Belgian painter Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur saw her perform in 1932.
He didn't just watch. He decided she was his.
Famous legong dancer. Fifteen years old when Belgian painter Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur saw her perform in 1932.
He didn't just watch. He decided she was his.
December 28, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Ni Nyoman Pollok. Born March 1917, Denpasar, Bali. 🌺🔥
Famous legong dancer. Fifteen years old when Belgian painter Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur saw her perform in 1932.
He didn't just watch. He decided she was his.
Famous legong dancer. Fifteen years old when Belgian painter Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur saw her perform in 1932.
He didn't just watch. He decided she was his.
This account curates historical images and narratives from indigenous societies, with a focus on labour, economy, ritual, and autonomy.
December 28, 2025 at 12:08 PM
This account curates historical images and narratives from indigenous societies, with a focus on labour, economy, ritual, and autonomy.
1️⃣ Kebaya the making of National dress. 🧵🔥
They call it tradition now. Call it heritage. Call it national costume.
But before colonizers arrived with their shame-soaked rulebooks, woman in Southeast Asia went bare from the waist up. It wasn't savage. It was Tuesday.
They call it tradition now. Call it heritage. Call it national costume.
But before colonizers arrived with their shame-soaked rulebooks, woman in Southeast Asia went bare from the waist up. It wasn't savage. It was Tuesday.
December 28, 2025 at 6:29 AM
1️⃣ Kebaya the making of National dress. 🧵🔥
They call it tradition now. Call it heritage. Call it national costume.
But before colonizers arrived with their shame-soaked rulebooks, woman in Southeast Asia went bare from the waist up. It wasn't savage. It was Tuesday.
They call it tradition now. Call it heritage. Call it national costume.
But before colonizers arrived with their shame-soaked rulebooks, woman in Southeast Asia went bare from the waist up. It wasn't savage. It was Tuesday.
**Nadal #94. Dalat, circa 1932. “Les jeunes filles Mois un jour de fête.” Real frame. Fictional breath.**
They stand shoulder to shoulder, seven Moi daughters, the village gong still echoing in their bones.
They stand shoulder to shoulder, seven Moi daughters, the village gong still echoing in their bones.
December 28, 2025 at 2:54 AM
**Nadal #94. Dalat, circa 1932. “Les jeunes filles Mois un jour de fête.” Real frame. Fictional breath.**
They stand shoulder to shoulder, seven Moi daughters, the village gong still echoing in their bones.
They stand shoulder to shoulder, seven Moi daughters, the village gong still echoing in their bones.
1937. Stieng family standing in their own field, capable of feeding themselves and a whole village. No “development”. No plastic. No debt. 🌾
December 28, 2025 at 2:54 AM
1937. Stieng family standing in their own field, capable of feeding themselves and a whole village. No “development”. No plastic. No debt. 🌾
Mughals killed bodies. Xitians killed souls. 🔥
They didn't just conquer—they made us ashamed of our own skin, our gods, our women's bodies. That's genocide of the mind. 💀
And you still worship their modesty rules.
They didn't just conquer—they made us ashamed of our own skin, our gods, our women's bodies. That's genocide of the mind. 💀
And you still worship their modesty rules.
December 12, 2025 at 6:32 AM
Mughals killed bodies. Xitians killed souls. 🔥
They didn't just conquer—they made us ashamed of our own skin, our gods, our women's bodies. That's genocide of the mind. 💀
And you still worship their modesty rules.
They didn't just conquer—they made us ashamed of our own skin, our gods, our women's bodies. That's genocide of the mind. 💀
And you still worship their modesty rules.
Beauty is not complexion or a racist nasal index. 🔥
Who came from ice sheets teaching innocents the game of cheating themselves.
She knows what beauty is. 💎
Who came from ice sheets teaching innocents the game of cheating themselves.
She knows what beauty is. 💎
December 11, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Beauty is not complexion or a racist nasal index. 🔥
Who came from ice sheets teaching innocents the game of cheating themselves.
She knows what beauty is. 💎
Who came from ice sheets teaching innocents the game of cheating themselves.
She knows what beauty is. 💎
Young Balinese Hindu woman wading at river edge. Boy balancing basin on his head by the waterfall. Just living. 💧
Missionaries arrived calling this indecent. Called them primitive for existing in their own land the way they always had.
The savage came by ship. 🚢
1920 pic colorised using AI
Missionaries arrived calling this indecent. Called them primitive for existing in their own land the way they always had.
The savage came by ship. 🚢
1920 pic colorised using AI
December 11, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Young Balinese Hindu woman wading at river edge. Boy balancing basin on his head by the waterfall. Just living. 💧
Missionaries arrived calling this indecent. Called them primitive for existing in their own land the way they always had.
The savage came by ship. 🚢
1920 pic colorised using AI
Missionaries arrived calling this indecent. Called them primitive for existing in their own land the way they always had.
The savage came by ship. 🚢
1920 pic colorised using AI
December 11, 2025 at 6:33 AM
Culture vs civilization — tell me which side brought the mortar, the millet, the prayer. 🔥👣
Bare feet on earth, women at the wall hulled grain and held ceremony. Their hands kept life; outsiders brought laws to name them savage.
Bare feet on earth, women at the wall hulled grain and held ceremony. Their hands kept life; outsiders brought laws to name them savage.
December 10, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Culture vs civilization — tell me which side brought the mortar, the millet, the prayer. 🔥👣
Bare feet on earth, women at the wall hulled grain and held ceremony. Their hands kept life; outsiders brought laws to name them savage.
Bare feet on earth, women at the wall hulled grain and held ceremony. Their hands kept life; outsiders brought laws to name them savage.
A century back: a Balinese Hindu mother with her children, hands full and posture unbent — and foreign captions tried to peg them as lesser. 🖤🔥
They were not pity projects. They were practitioners of life: feeding, blessing, carrying. Modesty rules arrived later, with guns and Bibles.
They were not pity projects. They were practitioners of life: feeding, blessing, carrying. Modesty rules arrived later, with guns and Bibles.
December 10, 2025 at 1:30 PM
A century back: a Balinese Hindu mother with her children, hands full and posture unbent — and foreign captions tried to peg them as lesser. 🖤🔥
They were not pity projects. They were practitioners of life: feeding, blessing, carrying. Modesty rules arrived later, with guns and Bibles.
They were not pity projects. They were practitioners of life: feeding, blessing, carrying. Modesty rules arrived later, with guns and Bibles.
They wrote captions like they owned the story. 🗺️📷
But look — the women in the frame already had names, trades, rules of their own. Colonizer eyes turned them into objects; we must turn the archive back into voices. 🔥
Reread, relabel, reclaim.
But look — the women in the frame already had names, trades, rules of their own. Colonizer eyes turned them into objects; we must turn the archive back into voices. 🔥
Reread, relabel, reclaim.
December 10, 2025 at 6:27 AM
They wrote captions like they owned the story. 🗺️📷
But look — the women in the frame already had names, trades, rules of their own. Colonizer eyes turned them into objects; we must turn the archive back into voices. 🔥
Reread, relabel, reclaim.
But look — the women in the frame already had names, trades, rules of their own. Colonizer eyes turned them into objects; we must turn the archive back into voices. 🔥
Reread, relabel, reclaim.
**Nadal #95. Long-Iram, Mahakam River, c. 1910. “Dayak Girls – Type Ethnographique.” Real frame. Fictional breath.**
**Sungai** and **Bulau** stand shoulder to shoulder under the stilt-house shadow, boards bleached by river mist.
**Sungai** and **Bulau** stand shoulder to shoulder under the stilt-house shadow, boards bleached by river mist.
December 10, 2025 at 2:57 AM
**Nadal #95. Long-Iram, Mahakam River, c. 1910. “Dayak Girls – Type Ethnographique.” Real frame. Fictional breath.**
**Sungai** and **Bulau** stand shoulder to shoulder under the stilt-house shadow, boards bleached by river mist.
**Sungai** and **Bulau** stand shoulder to shoulder under the stilt-house shadow, boards bleached by river mist.
Stretched earlobes were a fashion on the indian continent for over 2,200 years. they survived priestly rules and colonial shame — then in a few quick decades were almost erased. body-memories don't disappear that easy. 🪬🔥✊🏽
December 9, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Stretched earlobes were a fashion on the indian continent for over 2,200 years. they survived priestly rules and colonial shame — then in a few quick decades were almost erased. body-memories don't disappear that easy. 🪬🔥✊🏽
They stood with indigenous spears against Dutch cannons — long before Victorians boxed modesty into law and handed it to the commoners.
Bodies policed. Stories edited. Resistance continued. 🛡️🌿
Bodies policed. Stories edited. Resistance continued. 🛡️🌿
December 9, 2025 at 2:01 PM
They stood with indigenous spears against Dutch cannons — long before Victorians boxed modesty into law and handed it to the commoners.
Bodies policed. Stories edited. Resistance continued. 🛡️🌿
Bodies policed. Stories edited. Resistance continued. 🛡️🌿