Leather puppets on display at CKP

An exhibition of leather puppets began at the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath on Saturday. Around 500 puppets collected since 1960 have been on display at the nine-day festival.

Biocon India Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, who inaugurated the show, mooted the idea of setting up a gallery dedicated for leather puppetry on the CKP premises. She said she was ready to support the initiative.

R H Kulkarni, principal, CKP College of Fine Arts, said that they had been collecting puppets since 1960 and some of them were 300 to 400-year-old.

Help from experts

Kulkarni attributed the collection to the efforts of cultural experts such as Arya Murthy, M S Nanjunda Rao and M J Kamakshi.

He said the puppets displayed revolve around different themes, stories and epics.
CKP General Secretary D K Chowta said that they had collected more than 3,000 puppet works and around 500 of them were on display.

He said that the CKP required about Rs 1.5 crore annually to pay staff salaries and had been renting out galleries to generate income.

“Contrary to the people’s perception, the CKP is not a government institution. We want financial support from the government and art patrons,” he said.

The exhibition, designed and curated by art director and stage designer, Shashidhar Adappa, will be open from 10.30 am to 7 pm till May 11.

The entry to the exhibition is free.