Hand Puppet Item Number: 3381/15 a-b from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Description
Mamulengo hand puppet (part a) of a 'Quitéria' character. Carved from wood and painted. She has light pink skin, wide medium brown eyes, and a slightly open mouth with large red lips. She wears a dress made of four different patterned fabrics with gold ribbon lining the neckline, belting the waist, and between the lower fabrics of the skirt. She has long brown hair with a flower on the right side of her head, and her face is painted with green eye shadow, long black lashes, and dark pink-red circles of blush. The fabric is adhered to the hands. Her boots are painted black, and part of her foot has broken off (part b).
History Of Use
The puppet represents a character from a form of popular puppet theatre, found in northeastern Brazil, called mamulengo. This type of theatre is prevalent in disenfranchised communities with ancestral ties to colonized Indigenous peoples and uprooted, enslaved Africans. Mamulengo performances are entertaining events that can last all night long, with puppeteers (mamulengueiros) using 70 to 100 puppets in one staging. The stages are pop-up stands (empanadas), made of brightly coloured, floral-printed cloth. The shows consist of short sequences (passagens), or skits from popular stories that expose the inequalities and dramas of everyday life, profiling stock characters such as rich landowners and peasant labourers. The whole is spun together with humour, satire, lively music, and audience commentary.
Item History
- Made by Edjane Maria Ferreira de (Maker) in Gloria do Goita, Pernambuco, Brazil during 2018
- Owned by Associacao Cultural de Amigos do Museu de Folclore Edison Carneiro before July 25, 2019
- Received from Associacao Cultural de Amigos do Museu de Folclore Edison Carneiro (Seller) and Museum of Anthropology Exhibitions Budget (Funding source) on July 25, 2019
What
Who
- Culture
- Brazilian
- Creator
- Edjane Maria Ferreira de (Maker)
- Previous Owner
- Associacao Cultural de Amigos do Museu de Folclore Edison Carneiro
- Received from
- Associacao Cultural de Amigos do Museu de Folclore Edison Carneiro (Seller) and Museum of Anthropology Exhibitions Budget (Funding source)
Where
- Holding Institution
- MOA: University of British Columbia
- Made in
- Gloria do Goita, Pernambuco, Brazil
When
- Creation Date
- during 2018
- Ownership Date
- before July 25, 2019
- Acquisition Date
- on July 25, 2019
Other
- Condition
- fair
- Accession Number
- 3381/0015