KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 27 (Reuters) – Malaysian school lecturer Ahnaf Hakimi Ahmad hopes to save lots of the traditional custom of shadow puppetry utilizing 3D-printed figures managed by robotics as an alternative of individuals.
“Wayang kulit”, a theatrical artwork kind as soon as in style throughout Southeast Asia, significantly in Malaysia and Indonesia, is historically carried out with collectible figurines crafted from buffalo pores and skin, whose shadows are solid onto a display screen.
Ahnaf, 33, hopes his invention, which is funded by a 20,000 Malaysian ringgit ($4,244) grant, can enable folks to benefit from the quickly fading artform “each time and wherever”.
“A lot of the teenagers and youths at the moment lean extra in the direction of social media and tv applications. So, with this animatronic shadow puppet present, it will likely be a brand new phenomenon for these youths,” he stated at a efficiency at a mall in Penang island.
Wayang normally depicts epic Hindu tales such because the Ramayana in hours-long theatrical and musical performances, however some in Muslim-majority Malaysia contemplate them un-Islamic. There are solely about eight lively wayang troupes within the nation at the moment.
To counter the criticism, Ahnaf and wayang grasp Mohd Jufry Yusoff, who has suggested on the animatronics efficiency, additionally inform tales of contemporary on a regular basis life with their robotic puppets.
($1 = 4.7120 ringgit)
Reporting by Ebrahim Harris; Enhancing by Kanupriya Kapoor and Gerry Doyle
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