Summary

This partially completed puppet was made in 1980 by Dimitri Katsoulis at his home in Port Melbourne. However, Dimitri never completed this puppet as he had no need for it in his performances. Dimitri Katsoulis migrated to Australia in 1974 to escape a regime that repressed Greek artists. He had trained in Greece with theatre and film companies as an actor and technician. A master of the traditional Greek shadow puppet theatre, his performances explored contemporary issues such as the isolation of migrant women and children. Unable to obtain funding and support, he returned to Greece in 1991, leaving his entire collection to the people of Victoria. It includes 32 shadow puppets and around 170 props, set backdrops and technical tools and stage equipment. Dimitri has since returned to Melbourne and assists the Museum to continue to document this rich art form within both local and international contexts.

This partially completed leather puppet was designed for use in the centuries-old Greek Shadow Puppet Theatre (Karaghiozis) tradition. It represents the top half of the character of Karaghiozis. It is in the second stage of production, in that it has been drawn and cut from leather, and is ready to be painted. Dimitri scraped the leather, created the eye and then left it because he was unable to find acrylic to complete the puppet. The creation of Greek shadow puppets it a step-by-step process of drawing, cutting, roughening, colouring, hole punching and attaching movable parts.

Information supplied by Greek Shadow Puppet Theatre master Dimitri Katsoulis, 2007.

Physical Description

A two-dimensional shape, cut in stiff, cream leather, showing a man's head and torso. The facial features have been indicated in black ink on one side only. The face is caricatured, with an exaggerated nose.

Significance

This collection of puppets, props, stage sets, and technical tools and equipment relating to traditional Greek Shadow Puppet Theatre is unique in Australia and rare in international public collections. The history of Greek Shadow Puppet Theatre, its puppet characters and the methodology of its performance has been recorded in partnership with the puppet master to whom the collection belonged. The collection is highly significant both as documentation of an important cross-cultural, centuries-old art form, and as an example of the transnational migration of cultural activity between Greece and Australia. It is a collection which was created and performed in Greece and Australia from the mid to late twentieth century, by two puppet masters, who transported the tradition between two countries. Abraam Antonakos came to Australia in 1977 to perform the puppet theatre and then deposited the puppets with Dimitri Katsoulis, who had migrated to Australia in 1974. Dimitri's story becomes one of migration experience, cultural maintenance and adaptation, and finally return migration and the discontinuance of this cultural art form in Australia.

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