A shadow play by Jumaadi and Michael Toisuta
Strange creatures and curious vessels drift across simple squares of light. Evocative rhythms and sounds of the waterfront fill the space. This is a dream-like story of humans and the sea told in light and shadow.
In this short live performance, Indonesian-Australian artist Jumaadi continues his meditation on migration, the oceans and the ships that cross them. Stories of trade and belonging, love, joy and grief are performed using simple cut-outs made from paper and animal skins.
Through beautifully crafted silhouettes, Jumaadi and composer Michael Toisuta present a contemporary take on wayang, the traditional form of shadow-puppet plays that originated in Java and Bali.
Jumaadi was inspired by the museum’s vessels, particularly the Duyfken, the replica of the first European ship to reach Australia in 1606.
“This performance begins with a picture. Like a tree, at first it was a seed, Then it sprouted and branched, and multiplied. The images then evolves into a series of shapes. They suggest our relationship with the environment, with our personal and collective memories and shared history that shape us. Which is constructed, and often absurd, painful and witty.
The story began with a fisherman, where he gets abundant and endless catches. Not only fish, and sea creatures, but also ships that sank in the past which contained old beds hanging from household furniture, from kitchen utensils, a pair of shoes, a wedding dress and strange objects hinting at a series of memories and events from ancient times, the colonial era to the present.
Also caught are flora and fauna with a dazzling variety of leaf shapes, which are fragile and simple, flowers and twigs of native plants from the archipelago and Australia, as well as those introduced by Europeans during colonialism along with spices, coffee, tea and other plants that they traded.
The fisherman also watched the boats go by laden with flocks of sheep, cows, chickens and pigs whose meat was targeted, cans of tuna, mangoes. Strange objects, organs and parts of the human body, lungs, hearts, genitals, hair, dentures and artificial jaws.”
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