During Angkor times, carpets of the Royal household were made of large pieces of tanned buffalo skins. One day, a housekeeper, seeing that they were getting old, decided to replace them. As he pulled out one of them and haphazardly put it against light, he realized that having been trodden thousands of times here and there pierced by the stone floor, the holes were making some sort of a relief pattern looking like figures. The housekeeper got the idea to use this discovery. He cut figures out of the skins. The shadow theatre was born.
The Cambodian art of Shadow Theater utilizes puppets made of leather, called Sbaek in Khmer language. The leather puppets are pieces of art in themselves. The design of the panel, made out of an entire cow’s tanned skin, refers to an ancient tradition, and requires drawing skills, chiseling ability, and the capacity to balance light and shadow within the panel, in order to let the figures emerge from the panel.
Shadow puppetry, found throughout South-East Asia, is powerful and mysterious in its immateriality, capturing the imagination of people for thousands of years. Even within the structured storylines every performance leaves room for improvisation. This allows the art form to remain a relevant, living part of the culture of the time, able to respond to the contemporary needs of the population.
source: http://shadow-puppets.org/repertory-of-arts/shadow-puppets-theatre.html
BEAUTIFUL :)
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