Monday, October 24, 2011

Indonesian Shadow Puppet Exhibit


The Angel Gabriel
I recently came across this art show video (see below) of Christian Indonesian shadow puppets, or Wayang Wahyu.  The puppets were created by Indonesian businessman and graduate student Baroto Murti Anindito and was first shown at Anindito's school, the University of Santo Tomas in Manilla, Philippines, from August 16 to September 21.  The show is currently on display at the GSIS Museo ng Sining (Museum of Art) in Pasay City, Philippines through October 29th.  The multimedia exhibition features some of the original shadow puppets done by Baroto, photographs and an audio-visual presentation that shows how the intricate puppets are made and how they are actually handled during an actual Wayang performance.

Wayang is an Indonesian form of shadow puppet theater that dates back to sometime during the first millenium A.D.  Wayang Wahyu is a Catholic form of shadow theatre created in 1960 in central Java by Brother Timotheus L. Wignyosoebroto as a way to communicate the stories and ideas in the Bible.  You can read more about Wayang Wahyu in a previous post of mine.

Photographs of some of the exhibit's 40 puppets can be seen here and here.


3 comments:

  1. Ah, I've been waiting for something like this for years! Thanks for sharing the find!

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  2. Fabulous to see these puppets! Wonder if I could print out the images and exhibit it at our church gallery?

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  3. @Kirsten- I would contact the artist, Baroto Murti Anindito, through his website or email address to find out if that would be ok-- maybe he'd even send you higher resolution versions of the photos to print out?

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