concept

For this MA project, I am exploring on the aesthetic part of the Wayang art. Although, I tried to observe the meaning and idea behind its philosophy and the meaning of shadow.

In my own understanding, I believe that a shadow represents the object, in the case of Wayang show, it represents the “soul” of the puppet. Indonesian believes that the Shadow Puppet (Wayang) has a soul, usually possessed by spirits of ancestors. It is believe that in order for the puppet master to create the dynamic movement of the puppet during the show, they need the help from the spirits within. Usually the puppet master would do many rituals before each show, such a fasting and praying, this shows how mysticism are closely related with this art.

WHY 3D CUTOUTS?
Shadows are the extension of the silhouette of the shapes. Therefore, I wanted to show a concept of bringing the shadow forward, as the front part of the garment. I wanted to bring out the “Soul” of the garment.
Shadows are in the form of 2D, but in this interpretation of mine, in order to bring out the “soul”, I made it 3D to make it rather “alive”. So the idea is to bring a 2D shape of the shadow forward to give a 3D effect.

THE SHAPES OF THE CUTOUTS:
The shapes of the cutouts are the expression of the shadow puppet from 2D to 3D. Shadow puppets shapes of different characteristics and sizes put together, stretched out, flipped horizontally and vertically, rotated and reflected.

The objective of this project is to show how I could still use something that may seem traditional and out-dated and develop it to something that could look modern and edgy without wanting to change the image drastically. I wanted to show how a diffusion of traditional art and culture with the modern western feel doesn’t always have to be about delivering an ethnic look, but make it look fashionable. The colour pallete that I am using consists of black, white and off-white, with the use of Neoprene, Organza, Taffeta and I am considering jersey as well for the fabric of the garment. Meanwhile, the silhouette I would want to show is the form of simplicity, edgy and geometric shapes taken from elements of shapes in the Wayang figure.