12pm BST / 4pm PKT / 7am EST
I am ME! Puppet Making Workshop
A Live Digital Puppet Making Workshop for Women and Men.
By Yamina Peerzada (Actress and Puppeteer)
For adults & children 14yrs +
The workshop is developed for women and men from all walks of life (ideally 14 plus). The participants will create puppets using newspaper, paints and masking tape. They will be asked to create mini rod puppets either realistically or symbolically as they see themselves. They will be asked to write a few words about themselves, either to accept, overcome or celebrate their faces and bodies. Once their puppets are completed they will be asked to take a picture and upload their puppets on social media using the hashtag #iamME to continue the movement of self worth and acceptance.
We have chosen ‘Body Image’ as a specific focus for our workshop because we feel it is a very common problem for people today, especially for women. We are constantly being bombarded with a specific type of body on television, our phones, social media, magazines etc . In Pakistan, we are obsessed with fair skin as racism runs deep in the subcontinent’s history, with its roots intertwined with caste and colonialism.
Therefore, through this workshop we wanted young women and men to discover their own strength, talent and abilities and to embrace their imperfections that make them beautiful. We want to instill the idea of owning and celebrating the uniqueness of our bodies and of accepting and loving oneself just as we are.
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Miniature Rod Puppets!
Here are the materials you will need at home:
Newspaper
Masking tape (A MUST)
Two sticks (not very short- like a pencil or chopsticks)
Poster or acrylic Paints
Paintbrush
Black marker
UHU glue tube
A piece of fabric / approx 24”x 24”
A pair of Scissors
A small piece of paper 4” x 4”
A rubber band or string
Ribbons, or wool for hair
Ribbons or buttons for accessories
Looking Forward,
Yamina
Yamina Peerzada is an Actress, Puppeteer and Puppet Designer from Pakistan. She has graduated with a Master’s degree in Acting for Screen from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London. She is one of the only established female puppeteers of Pakistan, having worked in France, Italy, Denmark, India, Turkey, Norway, United Kingdom and Pakistan. She also manipulated and voiced Rani, the protagonist puppet character, in ‘Sim Sim Hamara’, a Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop and Sesame Workshop collaboration.
She is an Artistic Director at Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop since 2012 and a co-founder of The Creative Academy, that focuses on creative learning through a digital platform. She is also part of the visiting faculty at National Academy of Performing Arts, Karachi where she teaches Acting for Screen.
She has done five Drama Series aired on PTV Home, ARY Digital, TV One, Aplus and Geo Entertainment in Pakistan. Yamina was awarded Best Actress (TV - Terrestrial) at the Lux Style Awards 2014.
She has conducted and curated many puppet workshops and has been a panellist at festivals such as the South Asian Heritage Month UK, World Performing Art Festivals (Pakistan) and the Women of the World festivals (WOW), in Pakistan, Scotland and London focusing on Body Positivity, Self Worth and Confidence.
