Performance Gallery was developed at Brighton Museum in response to the excellent collections which relate to performance. The gallery opened in 2002 and an installation of animal puppets from Mali is featured as one of seven puppet traditions from around the world.

The display:
These puppets were purchased as carvings without their large animal bodies (in Segou, the animal heads and puppet figures are kept from year to year and renewed for new performances, the animal bodies are made afresh for each performance). In Performance Gallery a large antelope headdress is mounted on a wooden frame, dressed with straw to recreate the body as it would have been performed. This is covered with cloths from Mali, contemporary brightly coloured printed cloth, with status-symbol motifs including cell phones and stiletto shoes. On top is a Bogolanfini mud-painted cloth, a traditional high-value cloth.

Alongside this antelope, three other animal head puppets are displayed: hunters, twin figures and a bird. These are shown without their animal stage reconstruction, and show how the heads are manipulated.

The gallery label reads:
It is a hot Savannah night. Festive drumbeats urge people to the village square. Electric generators drone and arc lamps blaze. One after another giant animals arrive, their grass costumes fly as they swing and sway.

Spectators dance out into the square, teasing and glorifying the animals. Hidden inside each frame, men dance and work the puppets. The animals will compete with each other through the night.

Once, villagers hunted the dangerous beasts of the bush. The puppets celebrate those victories and athletic performers now capture the essence of the animals.

Find out more about the Performance Gallery at Brighton Museum