Blog post by AEL Summer Scholarship student Sarah Zalewski. Images courtesy of Taring Padi and CAIA. Photography by Sarah Zalewski.
Recently, several Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art (CAIA) students from Queensland College of Art and Design (QCAD) participated in a cardboard puppet making workshop with four members of Taring Padi, Bayu, Bebe, Fitri and Vera.
We began with a discussion, learning about some of the history of why Taring Padi make these puppets. Getting the attention of people who see these brightly coloured puppets and may want to find out more about what they mean or are protesting, to make it look like there are more people gathering for the protest and is some cases to use for protection if there were violent clashes with the authorities. Then, as a group, we started to discuss some of the issues that are faced here in Australia for First Nations Peoples and in Indonesia. Once everyone had an idea of what issue they wanted to make a puppet about, we discussed what the puppet might look like. We were given chalk to start sketching our ideas out and then started painting.
It was a really successful day with lots of puppets being made and they were placed outside near the collaborative banner between Taring Padi and proppaNOW for the opening of the exhibition Taring Padi: Tanah Tumpah Darah. I look forward to using the skills and techniques learnt in this workshop to support any future protests I attend.
Taring Padi: Tanah Tumpah Darah is on at Griffith University Art Museum from 29 February to 25 May 2024. More information can be found here.