puppetry

Big Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten puppets

Posted by hil

I’ve continued to make large puppet heads of Australian politicians for Matt Armstrong. In December 2018 I finished one of Scott Morrison, who had just become Prime Minister after rolling Malcolm Turnbull.

Fairly soon afterwards in March 2019 there was a call for a Bill Shorten puppet head. The life of this one was remarkably short, since Shorten’s Labor lost the election it was expected to win.

There are now five of these – Abbott, Turnbull, Joyce, Morrison and Shorten. Canberra Museum and Gallery has currently borrowed the Abbott and Shorten puppets for display in their exhibition Activism: forces for change in Canberra, which runs until early November.

On the opening night of the exhibition, the Joyce and Turnbull puppets mingled with the crowd, and it was fun to get a photo of all four of them together.

There has been a lot of interest in these puppets, and they appear in the media quite often. In September 2018 the ABC had a nice article about them, with an accompanying video.

The Piano Creatures video

Posted by hil

I’m excited to present the video of The Piano Creatures that accompanies the creatures when they are on static display! At the moment they are in my show Glimpses of a Seabird Flying Blind at the Pinnacles Gallery, Townsville, until 29 April. The creatures exist somewhere between sculptures and puppets, so the video captures some of the moments when they move and come alive.

I had brilliant colleagues making the video, and it was a real pleasure working with them! I offer them all many thanks for their skill, patience and enthusiasm, and such a great outcome!

Puppeteer: barb barnett
Video filming and production: Chris Hahn
Music composed by Alex Raupach
Performed, recorded and produced by Joe O’Connor (piano)

Big Malcolm Turnbull and Barbnaby Joyce puppets

Posted by hil

It’s been a while… almost three years since I last posted. So some catching up.

Following on from the ‘Real Big Tony’ Abbott puppet, I made a ‘Real Big Mal’ puppet head of Malcolm Turnbull (when he replaced Abbott as Prime Minister in September 2015). His handler, Matthew Armstrong, repurposed Real Big Tony as the Ghost of Tony – not much has changed! – and for a while both puppets appeared together. Prior to the 2016 election I also made a big Barnaby Joyce puppet head. At this stage Matt did away with the large body suits, just wearing the heads on top of ordinary suits. I think all three puppets may now have been retired.

Biami and Dinnawhan

Posted by hil

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(Nakiya Smith as Dinnawhan and Maitland Schnaars as Biami. Photo credit: Angie To)

For the Wiradjuri Echoes production Biami last year (see previous posts) I also made a mask and costume elements for Biami, and an emu puppet. In the creation story, Biami the creator spirit ‘created the emu Dinnawhan, the female emu, whose spirit he used to create the Wiradjuri people; who now believe they are of the egg of Biami and the female spirit’.

With a headdress (painted up by Duncan Smith) representing the five elements of the sky that he embodies – wind, lightning, thunder, rain and fog – and long soft brushing fingers, Biami’s presence was awesome!

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(Photo credits: Dylan Kovacevic)

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The Rainbow Serpent puppet for Biami

Posted by hil

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(Duncan Smith, artistic director of the Wiradjuri Echos, with Biami‘s Rainbow Serpent. Photo credit: Angie To)

I  recorded some of the build for Biami, the creation story of the Wiradjuri people, this time last year, (see previous posts) but didn’t get to blog about the Rainbow Serpent until now.

The serpent was about 4 metres long, and operated with rods by four to five people. After worrying about how I could make it twist and turn enough to be truly serpentine if it was designed to have solid body, I had what I think of my ‘warhorse’ moment of inspiration (!), and decided to make it impressionistic, with a skeleton outline instead. So it was made with coiled flexible foam backing rod, and  two midline connecting lines of the same material.

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Then I wrapped coloured cloth around the outlines. The design was effective and light, and enabled the serpent to snake and dive sinuously over the audience, carving out the Australian landscape according to the creation story.

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Inca owl and tumi masks

Posted by hil

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These masks were made for walk-about performances by The Fool Factory at the National Gallery of Australia‘s festival during the Enlighten Festival, Canberra, March 2014. They were themed to go with the NGA’s exhibition Gold and the Incas.

The owl design was suggested by  a golden bead in the exhibition, while the other was based on the decorative hilt part of a small sacrificial knife known as a tumi.

Political puppets for Puppet Government

Posted by hil

I made four puppets of Australian politicians earlier this year – Abbott, Bishop, Turnbull and Hockey – for Puppet Government, an indie youtube parody series.  So far four episodes have been made, with more presently in the works.

Here are some photos from making process:

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Tony Liar Pants on Fire puppet : Hands and flames

Posted by hil

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I’ve recently made new hands for the Tony Liar Pants on Fire puppet, as well as some flames to accompany his smoking pants. Meanwhile he has appeared at a rally at the ANU to protest Abbott’s changes to higher education, and the March Australia protest in Melbourne last weekend.

And now you can keep up with Real Big Tony on FaceBook.

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Videos of the giant Abbott puppet

Posted by hil

Here are 3 videos of the giant Tony Abbott puppet at the Bust the Budget rally last Sunday.

Abbott ripping up a promise:

Abbott arrives at the rally:

Tony ‘liar,liar pants on fire’ Abbott breaking promises in front of the crowd: