Students explore culture with puppets

Sock and shadow puppets became the characters in Djidi Djidi Aboriginal School stories last week when two artists from Awesome Arts worked with students on a project called Shaping Stories.

Artist Lewis Horne said they helped the children create characters for a shadow puppet movie, as well as “weave” stories into a tree that would be put on display at the Perth Cultural Centre near the WA State Library.

“We wanted to let the kids tell stories through pictures and puppetry because we are working with a spoken culture, ” he said.

The Creative Challenge is an initiative of Awesome Arts in partnership with the State Library of Western Australia. It aims to strengthen the language, literacy and communication skills of children while increasing community awareness of different cultural experiences.

Deputy principal Sam Goodlad said the project was successful in engaging students with the creative process.

“They have been very clever at linking culture, community and creativity, ” she said.

“It also has really enhanced their sense of identity.”

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