Leather Puppet, Hanuman

Leather puppetry is a unique form of expression in folk art of Andra Pradesh. The unique form of expression is enmeshed with the cultural aspects, borrowing themes from the two epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata. The inspiration of the puppet characters come from the insights of these two epics. The image of Hanuman has been painted by Sultanpur as a part of his master’s project in 2010. The artist had travelled to a place called Nimallakunta in Andhra Pradesh which is famous for the leather puppetry. He learnt the technique of painting the art on a sheep’s prepared skin. The process of making leather puppetry involves; tanning of the skin,  drawing, inserting holes to handle the puppet followed by colouring, threading and combining all the pieces together. Finally, the artist plays with the shadow of the leather puppet by placing the puppet behind a white screen. Thus, the art from provides new avenues to the artist in order to explore distinctive dimensions of art.