I have been recently given the opportunity of discovering an exquisite side of creative puppetry construction and the ultimate pleasure of being introduced to Teresa Milheiro's artistry and her thirteen puppets on display at Museu da Marioneta in a temporary exhibition - Passage to another side - on the Portuguese dramaturg Gil Vicente's revisited characters.
The thirteen puppets are fairly tiny little creatures with a voice of their own ... the "voice" their "constructor", similarly to Geppetto, has instilled on everyone of them. They are little jewels, not because they have been made of noble metals but because of what they stand for symbolically.
In The Devil/Angel one torso double character representing the struggle between the good and evil within ourselves, the artist has used gold (simbolysing power, money, corruption and lust) to make the Devil and silver (imparting purity) for the angel.
The Dumb, depicted as an intoxicated football fan living a miserable life and venting all his frustations in the football games ends up going to heaven because of his poorly spirited life being turned into a Mosquito, according to the artist.
The Emperor said to belong to the group of the powerful and untouchable lot, this being the reason as to why it was saved by God in Gil Vicente's Barca da Glória, depicts the selfish and destructive power of those being supported by the complicity of their entourage, being transformed into a flying Melanocetus, an awful looking fish as dark as oil (allusion to the oil power), whose wings may be of no use.
The Pope represented as a physically decaying character symbolising the Church and the Religious power is turned into an Opisthoproctus fish with tubular-shaped eyes looking upwards as if to give the illusion of praying to the skies, though the underlying idea is to convey the fact that one does not see what one has no intention of seeing.
In The Devil/Angel one torso double character representing the struggle between the good and evil within ourselves, the artist has used gold (simbolysing power, money, corruption and lust) to make the Devil and silver (imparting purity) for the angel.
The Dumb, depicted as an intoxicated football fan living a miserable life and venting all his frustations in the football games ends up going to heaven because of his poorly spirited life being turned into a Mosquito, according to the artist.
The Emperor said to belong to the group of the powerful and untouchable lot, this being the reason as to why it was saved by God in Gil Vicente's Barca da Glória, depicts the selfish and destructive power of those being supported by the complicity of their entourage, being transformed into a flying Melanocetus, an awful looking fish as dark as oil (allusion to the oil power), whose wings may be of no use.
The Pope represented as a physically decaying character symbolising the Church and the Religious power is turned into an Opisthoproctus fish with tubular-shaped eyes looking upwards as if to give the illusion of praying to the skies, though the underlying idea is to convey the fact that one does not see what one has no intention of seeing.
The Dumb and the Mosquito; The Devil/Angel and The Pope and the Opisthoproctus (from left to right).
The Devil/Angel (detail)
The Gossipmonger symbolising Human trafficking and obsession with image and perfection turns into an Octopus upon dying, which represents the mafia with all its tentacles. Gold has been used for the eyes, thus representing the profit and money-like obsession.
The Gossipmonger and the Octopus
The Pope and the Opisthoproctus; The Emperor and the Melanocetus; The Devil/Angel; The Palestinian (from left to right)
The Palestinian, being the only solo character has similarly to the Jewish character in Gil Vicente no right to salvation because of not wanting to convert. For teresa Milheiro this particular character represents the average Muslin and not the Terrorist and therefore its focus is on the suffering of a people in an endless war.
An unexpected surprise ... (whilst waiting for Plaxus Polaire's performance). It will be on display till the 31st of August in one of the rooms pertaining to the cloisters of the Monastery of Bernardas, where Museu da Marioneta is housed and is really worth being looked at for the beauty of the little puppets and their symbolism but above all because of Teresa Milheiro's creative artistry.
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