Indian Institute of Art and Design organises Art of Puppetry Workshop by Dadi Pudumjee

The Indian Institute of Art and Design (IIAD), Delhi hosted an interdisciplinary workshop on the art of puppetry with the pioneer of puppetry, Padma Shri awardee, Dadi Pudumjee. The workshop was organised to inculcate the ethos of the art of storytelling into the designs that the students will create.

The two week long intensive session which initiated on 3 October and concluded today, 17 October consisted of theoretical and practical approaches to the visual theatre-making process, with a focus on story development, puppet making and performing arts. The workshop incorporated the learnings from image making, animation, spatial narratives, construction methods and material exploration. It even covered immersive shadow theatre/storytelling, tabletop object theatre, crushed paper puppet theatre, masks and dance performances and single-screen shadow puppets

The interdisciplinary workshop was aimed at upgrading the act of individuality in students and crafting puppets in a personalised manner. Besides, the intent was also to help students understand unique mediums of storytelling and their importance. The session captivated students and faculty as one of a kind opportunity to watch the maestro, Dadi Pudumjee himself work his wonders. Pudumjee said “We as a country should have more traditional puppet theatres as compared to the urban-based modern puppet theatres. We definitely need to do much more to revive puppetry in the country and continue to keep it alive and thriving.”

Students of Communication Design and Interior Architecture & Design, Level 5 actively participated in the workshop. This event was organised by IIAD and The Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust, in an effort to familiarise students with the art form and to work towards its revival. The major aim of the workshop was to keep storytelling as the central theme and subsequently allow students to experiment with materials and methods of representation.