Los Angeles, Nov.4 (CNA) A Taiwanese artist directed a 12 foot (3.6 meters) tall puppet through a neighborhood for the homeless in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday as a part of an impromptu performance to bring awareness about refugees around the world.
The giant puppet, named Little Amal, depicts a 10-year-old Syrian refugee who is at the center of global interactive live theater called “The Walk,” created by The Walk Productions.
On Thursday, Amal is seen in L.A.’s Skid Row for an impromptu appearance where she walked and interacted with audience members and passersby in silence.
Skid Row is an area in the city where shelters and services for homeless people could be found since 1976, with the high homeless population documented as early as 1930.
As the unofficial area for the homeless, the location is also home to many refugees and asylum seekers from war-torn nations.
“It’s really important for people to see the journey of these children and to see the struggles of refugees,” said Lindsay Toczylowski of L.A.-based Immigrant Defenders Law Center.
She is a collaborator of Amal’s Thursday event.
“Our hope is that by people being able to see her walking and see her journey and be a part of that, they will be inspired to walk with the refugees and asylum seekers in their own communities,” Toczylowski told CNA.
Aside from the three puppeteers that operate Amal’s facial expressions and arms, an Asian man could be seen accompanying the puppet at all times, speaking into a walkie-talkie while eyeing the crowd.
The man is Taiwanese artist Enrico Dau Yang Wey (魏道揚). As the live theater’s director, he gave out observations and instructions to his puppeteers so that Amal may interact with the children, the homeless population and refugees in the areas she visited.
“In this project, the audience experiences Amal, experiences the world at the same time,” Wey told CNA. “So, every moment is live, every moment is real and she has to react to everything that happens around her. So, every event is different. You don’t know what you’re going to walk into and you don’t know how it will go. So, you have to improvise and keep things alive and living and true to how she might respond to that moment as a little girl.”
Little Amal has been travelling the world to bring awareness to global refugees since July 2021.
Since then, Amal has clocked in 6,000 miles in 14 countries.
Since Sept. 7 this year, Wey and the rest of The Walk Productions have accompanied Amal on a 40-towns-and-cities expedition across the United States, starting first from Boston in the East Coast.
Amal’s journey is set to conclude on Nov. 26 in San Diego in the West Coast before continuing her mission to Mexico’s Tijuana.
Speaking with CNA, the theater producer David Lan spoke on the impact of art on the world’s problems.
“Art can also engage with the big issues in the world,” Lan said. “Others can also be part of changing the conversation and focusing on the potential that refugees bring with them in their imaginations and their experiences and the ways in which they can enhance the communities in which, as we hope, they will find new homes.”
Wey has been a chaperone to Little Amal since the puppet’s initial journey in 2021.
As a member of South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company, who designed and crafted Amal, Wey was selected as a director of the puppet production.
He joined the company in 2004 and has since had almost 20 years of puppetry experience.
Wey left Taiwan for the U.S. after graduating from high school, then lived as an expat in countries such as South Africa and Germany before settling in his current residence in Spain.
Video source: CNA Youtube
