A
piece of stiff brown cardboard cut in the shape of a conical hat.
Holes have been drilled in the crown to form a decorative pattern. An
additional strip of reinforcing cardboard has been attached to the
base of the hat with one rivet at one end, two at the other. The
costume hat is worn by Kolitiris, a character in the centuries-old
Greek Shadow Puppet Theatre (Karaghiozis) tradition. Kolitiris wears
it in the Introduction of every performance as part of his costume in
order to change his appearance to make it more comical.
This
costume hat was made in the 1960s by the Greek puppeteer and popular
artist Abraam (Antonakos) in his Athens workshop, and used in
performances in Greece during the 1960s. This and most of the puppets
in the collection were brought to Australia by Abraam Antonakos for
his performances at the Astor Theatre in Melbourne in 1977. He then
left the collection with Dimitri Katsoulis who used them in all his
subsequent performances in Victoria and in South Australia from 1978
to 1991.Dimitri Katsoulis migrated to Australia in 1974 to escape a
regime that repressed Greek artists. He had trained in Greece with
theatre and film companies as an actor and technician. A master of
the traditional Greek shadow puppet theatre, his performances
explored contemporary issues such as the isolation of migrant women
and children. Unable to obtain funding and support, he returned to
Greece in 1991, leaving his entire collection to the people of
Victoria. It includes 32 shadow puppets and around 170 props, set
backdrops and technical tools and stage equipment. Dimitri has since
returned to Melbourne and assists the Museum to continue to document
this rich art form within both local and international contexts.
http://museumvictoria.com.au
