A Life in Shadows: Shadow Theatre in South East Asia

Through documentary photography, A Life in Shadows by Constantine Korsovitis, illustrates the sophistication and value of shadow theatre and its creators.

One of the oldest storytelling traditions, shadow theater combines puppetry with music, philosophy, history, storytelling, fashion, ritual, religion, and education.

While each nation in Southeast Asia has its own distinct culture, shadow theater is a shared theme. Many of the masters make their own puppets, play all the musical instruments, learn long texts in ancient languages, sing, study movement, and perform for long period of time in what is one of the most difficult and challenging art forms. Most of the performers are farmers, fisherman, factory workers, or teachers by day and artists by night.

Through documentary photography, A Life in Shadows by Constantine Korsovitis, illustrates the sophistication and value of shadow theater and its creators, and the author has been capturing the spirit and multiplicity of shadow theater since 1999 in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia, the common thread being the use of the Hindu epics of the Ramayana and the Mara Mahabharata as a source stories.

Sydney-based documentary photographer Constantine Korsovitis has a Masters degree in Documentary Photography from Sydney University and a Diploma of Photography from TAFE NSW. He has regularly exhibited his works both within Australia and Internationally. He is an active participant in the Sydney music scene and a regular contributor to the Australian free Press. He has worked on some of Australia’s largest festivals including Days Like This, Big Day Out, All Tomorrows Parties, Harvest, Good Vibrations, Parklife and Subsonic. During his overseas travels he developed a strong interest in traditional theater which led into a long term project of documenting, shadow puppetry throughout Southeast Asia. Korsovitis spent five years traveling around Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Cambodia to capture and interview puppet masters, musicians and craftsmen for his project. The result, ＂A Life Of Shadows＂, exhibited at the Ratchadamnoen Contemporary Art Centre in 2018.