Talented artists, visionaries, and craftsmen have dedicated themselves to preserving an important cultural tradition using a unique tool — superheroes.
The Malaysian team is using DC Comics superheroes — including Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Green Lantern, and Flash — to bring renewed interest to traditional art form of shadow puppetry, also known as Wayan Kulit.
This form of shadow puppetry is a dying breed, so the team took it upon themselves to try to revive it by reimagining the traditional characters. Each superhero is immediately recognizable because of their costumes’ colors and overall appearance, but traditional elements of Wayan Kulit design remains present. For example, Superman receives a floating pose because of the character’s power of flight. The Batman puppet stands on a bat, poised to emerge from the darkness. Green Lantern’s magical ring receives a larger protective green hand, signifying its power. Instead of being portrayed as more passive traditional princess, Wonder Woman retains her lasso and appears ready to do battle. Flash’s speed is depicted by the puppet appearing to run on a lightning bolt.
Each puppet is lovingly designed and brightly colored and crafted by a team of experts devoted to the art form. One of the artists says that it’s a common misconception that the shadow puppetry takes place completely in black and white, explaining that the traditional paint for the puppets’ bodies is translucent, allowing the colors to be conveyed in the shadow.
The Malaysian team behind this heroic reimagining of shadow puppetry has a number of other projects up their sleeves to gain renewed interest in Wayan Kulit. There have been three performances of traditional shadow puppets modeled off of Star Wars characters, for example, as well as a puppet depicting martial arts star Bruce Lee and a Christmas show. The team is set to reveal a new collection of puppets around the Halloween holiday.
Though the technology to expedite the process of making each puppet exists, the team resists taking the easy way out. Some of the traditional values of the art form would be lost if all of the puppets were made via computer. Instead, after the team revamps the styles for the puppets, they send the designs to traditional craftsmen, who make the puppets completely by hand, lending to the magic of the traditional Wayan Kulit.
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For more about this unique art and transformation, go to https://sg.news.yahoo.com/dc-superheroes-take-a-different-form-032957850.html.