Puppeteers manipulating their marionettes during a traditional Burmese marionette performance
Following the inaugural exhibition ‘Silent Actors: Puppets of Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand’, students from Arts Management, Dance, Fashion, Fine Art, Screen Media and Theatre embarked on separate journeys to Ho Chi Minh and Mandalay to continue research on puppetry practices in Southeast Asia. Together with the experiences of artist-in-residence workshops by local professionals from respective countries, students find ways to thread this learning through their own practices. The project ultimately provides a strong baseline for ancient Southeast Asian cultures, forms of physical and artistic expressions as well as the communicative strategies embedded in such heritage to be demonstrated over generations. Through live interviews and documentation, this exhibition showcases the students’ learning journey in photographs, videos, objects and drawings.