Commercial pigments may be used nowadays. The pigments are water-based, and are (or were?) all traditionally derived from natural materials – lampblack, blue from indigo, white from burnt bones, yellow from ochre and red from cinnabar – all fixed in a medium of egg-white. The precise design of each character (angles, lines, placement of holes) is codified, and must be memorised and carefully applied by the maker.Īt another bench, the specialist painter or pelukis wayang (Pak Parjio) applies water-based inks by brush. Transferred to a workbench, the details of faces, body, and the articulated limbs are carefully added to the puppet until complete. Working on the floor, Pak Daldek uses a set of variously-sized hole punches (mostly shaped like heavy duty nails) and cutting blades to cut out the main features of the puppet design. Pak Daldek prepares a full size drawing of the puppet to be created drawn onto paper (or, in this instance, a photocopy of a drawing!), and places it below the (now-translucent) sheet of buffalo hide. By this stage it is clean, stiff and translucent. The skin is soaked, cleansed and cured (sometimes for years) in preparation for making the puppets. In the photo above, Pak Suyoto, who is a specialist in skin preparation (proses pengolahan kulit perkamen), removes the hair and outer layer of hide from the tautly stretched skin. The best ones are imported from the region of Toraja in South Sulawesi. Buffalo skins are stronger and more even in thickness than those from cattle. The workflow begins with a whole skin from a water buffalo ( kulit kerbau). We have enjoyed watching the wayang kulit shadow puppet performances, but until our recent visit to the village of Gendeng (just south of Jogjakarta) we hadn’t realised just how much effort, time skill and creative art goes into making the flat puppets themselves.Īs with most of the ‘traditional’ material arts of Indonesia, there is no meaningful boundary drawn between craft and art, or between the skills of creation and construction, as is (erroneously, IMHO!) applied in the West. The stories can be a bit opaque to the foreign viewer, as they are told in the Javanese (or Balinese) languages. Some of the characters are perennial audience favourites, such as the powerful Bima and the comical Panakawan servants, led by the god/clown Semar. They recognise the shapes, and they know the names and personalities of every one of the dozens of characters, and their place within the overall narrative. The Dalang is supported by a gamelan orchestra, and the performance, which will go for many hours without a break, is bound to contain something of appeal to every member of the audience.Īudience members, sitting in front of the screen, greet the appearance of each new character with gasps, hoots of delight, sighs etc as appropriate. There is drama and pathos, good vs evil, romance – and a large amount of broad rollicking humour, with the Dalang adding in references to contemporary events. The stories told are mostly derived from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, with many characters and narratives added to the Indonesian versions of these classic Hindu epics. In the wayang kulit performance, a master puppeteer ( Dalang) sits behind an illuminated cloth screen ( kelir), and tells stories using the shadows cast by the large number of two-dimensional, semi-articulated puppets that he has arrayed in front of him. (A closely related form of wayang kulit is also found in Bali – as in the photo above). Over the years, we’ve attended several performances of that most Javanese of artforms, the wayang kulit, or shadow play. Back in Jogja for another month of Bahasa Indonesia tuition.
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