A contemporary interpretation of the story “The Shadow” by Hans Christian Anderson through the exploration and activation of wearable puppets that both exist as shadows and design objects. Wanting to invert the existing dichotomy between the puppet and puppeteer she started to explore how to make the puppet master over the puppeteer's movements.
A shadow is the perfect symbolic subject, since he can not exist without his master and is controlled by it. This strong link between shadows and puppets and inspired by the analysis of Ursula le Guin and Carl Jung’s theory about what a shadow represents permitted her to explore the duality of each puppet. Using different techniques, Ellen created 5 puppets. Rage, Fear, Desire, Creativity and Prejudice, each of them manifest a range of specific characteristics that allow for a variety of activation methods. Every one of these characters is designed to emit a certain feeling, linked to their symbolism while they are being brought to life. This serves as a tool for empowerment and exploration of your own shadow.
These puppets are a testimony of self exploration and self acceptance. It is an attempt at the sensibilisation of “the shadow” and what this entails, through a journey of acceptance rather than rejection and denial. To bring the puppets to life, the actors are physically being mastered by the puppet they are wearing. They embody the two way struggle between the person and their shadow, inviting the spectator to discover this duality of the installation.
The stage consists of a big decagonal screen that serves as the doorway between the person and the shadow side, completed by a circular carpet that marks the stage. Around the stage you can find 5 pillars which are each tailored to display one particular puppet.
The projection provides both a crisp shadow and an animation with a specifically designed typography for the descriptive titles to guide the viewer through the story accompanied by the live interaction.