Light Up Sunshine puppets to stalk Fed Square

Sela Sauaki, Julia Neilson and Martha Metuisela with some of the creations,

The giant puppets created for Light Up Sunshine back in March will take centre stage at Federation Square on Saturday from 5.45pm.

The puppets were created by young people from Brimbank’s Pacific Islander community working with Snuff Puppets as part of an Australia Pacific Arts Network project.

They will be performing the Tongan legend Maui Steals Fire from the Underworld, one of the Creation myths from the Pacific performances staged at the recent Mai Pasifika film festival. Project manager Katrina Chandra says the puppets are addressing a lack of Pacific Islander cultural events in Melbourne.

“There’s nothing else like this. There’s very little of Pacific arts in Melbourne, but there’s such a big Pacific community,” she said. “This is about learning about our culture.”

– Brendan Kelly