:: for Australia-Korea Foundation grant 2025-26 ::
Our initial proposal is to bring Mother puppet as we see her potential to act as a strong point of connection with local women in Gwacheon – opening up a space to explore how they see themselves and the roles they play in contemporary society. Specifically, this could take the form of a flexible community workshop, ranging from a simple two-hour conversation with local women (which would directly inform Mother’s performance) to a two-week creative residency where new puppets or props are built together and incorporated into a final performance.
The complementary roving performances we’re proposing is a large-scale outdoor puppetry performance featuring Mother and either or both of our two Australian Wild Birds: the Bush Turkey and the Cassowary. Together they spark curiosity, delight, and critical reflection in public spaces.
While our performances are delivered by professional puppeteers, we also offer the option of community workshop, where local participants are trained in how to wear and perform with the puppets. The workshop culminates in a live performance, giving participants the thrilling and unforgettable experience of bringing the characters to life in the vibrant, real-world setting of the festival crowd
:: Mother
Mother (also known as Jessica) is a striking, larger-than-life puppet character that explores contemporary femininity through an engaging street performance. Standing impressively tall, this character embodies the complex pressures placed on women in their thirties through both humor and poignant social commentary.
Jessica is instantly recognizable by her carefully curated appearance: always dressed in trendy activewear or body-hugging swimwear, perpetually carrying a water bottle, and never separated from her latest iPhone (with a background selfie) and AirPods. Her character presents as voluptuous yet slim, with perfectly straightened hair – the embodiment of contemporary beauty standards and social expectations.
The performance presents a nuanced exploration of feminine identity formation in modern society. Through Jessica’s exaggerated embodiment of health-conscious motherhood, the piece examines how women craft their identities through clothing choices, lifestyle practices, and societal roles – particularly the expectations surrounding motherhood.
The character’s performance subtly references the weight of maternal expectations, even as she moves through public spaces with confident determination. Through carefully choreographed interactions with audiences, Jessica reveals both the performance aspect of modern femininity and the underlying tensions of these roles.
This street performance creates an immersive experience where audiences encounter Jessica as she navigates public spaces. The absence of a traditional narrative structure allows for spontaneous interactions between the character and festival-goers, creating memorable, Instagram-worthy moments while subtly inviting reflection on gender expectations and performative identities.
The puppetry performance offers both entertaining spectacle and thoughtful commentary – Jessica’s exaggerated persona providing both humor and insight into how women navigate societal pressures around appearance, productivity, and maternal identity.
:: Wild Birds
Unlikely friends when in the wild, those two birds have been known to become accomplice when faced with freely roaming human crowds!
:: Bush Turkey
Scroll further for an introduction to some of Memetica’s other shows and example of community workshops
I have a fascination with archetypes. The Elders are a group of 12 characters who roam the streets of Woodford Folk Festival each year. They don’t belong to any specific ethnicity, culture, or gender; instead, they embody the archetypal figure of elders—a universal anthropological and social construct found in most pre-modern societies and cultures.
:: The Elders at Woodford Folk Festival
The Elders mingle with the crowd, enjoying shows and hanging around like anyone’s grandparents might. However, at certain moments, they step into their role as keepers of ancient knowledge and arcane mysteries, performing rituals that no one in the audience fully understands but can trust are for the benefit of the temporary community gathered for the week-long festival.
:: Street Skeeters
Created in collaboration with Wheelchair Rugby Paralympic Champion Matt Lewis, the Street Skeeters have been designed for full and comfortable access for manual wheelchair user. The Skeeters are also available for the training and perform session with community members.
Find out more about Street Skeeters
:: Deadly Totems
:: A Memetica project with the Willum Warrain Community
In September 2022 Memetica collaborated with the Willum Warrain Aboriginal Association, for the giant puppet show creation project Deadly Totem.
Centered around the four totems chosen by the community Elders for their youth, the project aimed to create a story featuring four giant puppet characters inspired by the local Blue-Tongue Lizard, the Pobblebonk Frog, the Kookaburra, and the Ringtail Possum.
Thus, the show Yana Daadigan was born, narrating the story of how the Willum Warrain community intervened to revitalize the destroyed industrial land they had been given for their gathering place. Once rejuvenated and transformed into the beautiful native plant-based oasis it is today, the land began attracting back all the local native fauna. Along with the return of the four Deadly Totems, this environment now allows the local wildlife to thrive and continue their natural cycle of growth and life.
:: The Naming, with Janggaburru
:: Janggaburru at Tablelands Folk Festival in Yungaburra
For the 2019 edition of the Tablelands Folk festival, Memetica collaborated with local Dulgubarra Yidinji Elders Uncle Laurie Padmore and Aunty Syb Breslyn to create a performance aimed at increasing acknowledgment and awareness of local First Nations culture in the town of Yungaburra and in the region.
Honoring the International Year of Indigenous Language The Naming project aimed at presenting the Dulgubarra Ydinji’s language to the wider community. The art intervention was implemented by adding street signage in Indigenous language to the existing ones in English.
Rather than merely translating existing English signage, The Naming introduced new markers that actively deconstructed topological, historical, and imposed colonial narratives, reaffirming the traditional and ongoing cultural, geographical, and historical identity of the landscape.
For the duration of the Festival, giant Janggaburru and his team of friends have been busy installing Indigenous language street signage thus bringing to actualization The Naming project.