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Heri's Shadow Puppetry

There's no argument that one of the highlights of the Inspirasi Festival was Heri Dono's shadow puppet workshops and his performance at the Finale.

Heri arrived in Byron Bay in early July in time to be a major speaker at the FEHVA - 48 Hours of Visual Arts Festival and then spent the follwing two weeks working in an open studio assisted by local artists such as Ginny Jones, Kathy McCormick, Made Siki Astawa and John Lewis, as well as visiting dalang Mike Burns. Many local community members, including children and Indonesian friends helped create the puppets and staging of the performance. Many thanks to Byron Tik at the Byron Arts Factory Gallery for allowing Heri and the many friends who helped with the project to utilize the Gallery/Studio during that time.

Vocalist Naomi Liba travelled from Melbourne in order to work with Heri and worked closely together with Mike, Efen Jaenudin, Tim Shanasy, Dharma Bradridge and other members of the Byron Salendro Gamelan to create the beautiful music which accompanied the story of Dewa Ruci performed as the finale of the festival at Byron Peace Pole Park on Sunday 17 July, 2005. The story was performed in Indonesian and English by Heri and Mike.

Heri's visit to Australia was made possible by the Australia Indonesia Institute. Thanks also to the Lismore Lantern Festival for the loan of the dragon and screens.

The following photos were taken over the period of the festival by Ginny Jones, Chris Coles and Tom Doyle.

Some comments regarding the project included:

Very entertaining, good combination of Indonesian and western culture – Dudley Leggett of Suffolk Park

I felt lucky to be involved with the shadow puppet performance workshops. The collaboration between Heri and other artists from different disciplines was an exciting experience for me. – Ginni Jones (participating artist) Lismore

Excellent for modern tradition and cultural language bridging art, products of development – John Lewis (participating artist)

I think the Heri Dono project was great. It was a great experience for me. Thank you heaps for letting me operate them. – Rebecca Lawrence (Mullumbimby High student)

I think it was awesome! Bagus Sekali – Maya Shepherd (Mullumbimby High student)

It was really fun and I loved holding the leaves fish. The squee voice was great and I’m so glad that I got chosen. Thank you very much for coming. – Kinta Jones (Mullumbimby High student)

As soon as Heri had began I felt the momentum of the festival begin. I believe the projects of Wayang and artist collaborations was the heart of this festival. From the experiences around these projects I feel I have grown artistically. – Dharmawan of Brunswick Heads

Amazing. The Shadow puppet show was very entertaining and a truly rewarding Indo cultural experience for all who attended. – Christine of Byron Bay.

The contemporary puppets were fantastic involving new elements of art and involving lots of different artists from different ethnic groups. – Wawan Prahara

A great choice of venue for the shadow puppet show. Very interesting traditional story, the crowd (especially kids) were totally absorbed – great ambience with music and vocalist. - Tom Doyle of Lennox head

The Heri Dono project was a fascinating combination of puppetry and music. Explained through the use of shadows and voice. Told with passion by Java artist Heri Dono. – David Healy (actor)

Amazing Shadow puppets – I never imagined shadow puppets could be so impressive. – Alexander McDonnell.

Inspiring, uplifting, fun, informative – Susanna Bergmann, Billinudgel

Great show with a touch of Aussie lingo. There was a great feeling of uniting multicultural and cultural awareness. – Kim Mitchell

Working on this project, even only a little helped me realize the effort by the artist and their help/support. The effort to show children and the public person and cultural works is admirable. As an artist I really appreciate being involved in such a project. – Bradley Schnierer (artist)

I feel the Heri Dono Wayang Kulit project/performance was immensely successful on several levels. It was immediately rewarding visually and aurally, the shadow puppets capturing your attention to the story and hence the history, through their deceptive simplicity. It feels very organic and accessible, accompanied by the music, it transformed the environment into something eternal. - Carly of Suffolk Park

It was quite boring but it was all right – Mason Gwyther (Mullumbimby High Studentl)

It was very good and I enjoyed it – Molly Wood (Mullumbimby High Studentl).

It was really fun and Heri let us use the puppets as well. I’m so glad that I was a part of it. – Janny Gewin (Mullumbimby High Studentl)