'The Herds' begins its journey from central Africa to the Arctic Circle
In the Kinshasa Botanical Garden, a troupe of cardboard animals – monkeys, a gorilla, leopards, a giraffe – stand at attention in a clearing. Their handlers, puppeteers dressed in black, begin to move slowly through the woods, eventually picking up speed and breaking out into a run.
These were the first steps of 'The Herds,' a moving theater performance made up of cardboard puppet animals that flee from the Democratic Republic of Congo to the Arctic Circle in a bid to bring attention to the climate crisis.
This week, the puppet animals started their journey in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC in central Africa. The story goes that the animals will be forced out of their natural habitats due to global warming and displaced north, stopping in cities along the way and being joined by more animals.
Just meters (yards) away a real-life example of climate change: Part of the botanical garden lay under floodwaters left over from massive flooding earlier this week that left half the city inaccessible and killed dozens. The sight brought 'The Herds' story to life in a bleak way. The main event planned in the center of Kinshasa on Friday was canceled because of the heavy rain.
'The Herds' comes from the team that was behind 'The Walk' in 2021, in which a 12-foot tall puppet of a refugee girl called Little Amal drew attention to the refugee crisis by traveling to 15 countries — from Turkey to the U.K., Ukraine, Mexico and the U.S.
Tshoper Kabambi, a Congolese filmmaker and producer, is working on 'The Herds' as its DRC producer. He said 'The Herds' main goal is to raise awareness.
' Nature is very important to us. But humans have a tendency to neglect nature,' he said. 'We want to raise awareness among people about everything that is happening. You have seen the floods all over the world, global warming, deforestation.'
'The Herds' will stay in Kinshasa until Saturday before moving onto Lagos, Nigeria, and Dakar, Senegal.
'The Herds' organizers say the significance of starting in Congo lies in the fact that the country is home to the second biggest rainforest in the world. The Congo Basin serves as one of the planet's 'lungs,' the other being the Amazon Rainforest.
They say much less attention has been focused on Congo's rainforest, but it is still in dire need of protection.
Congolese artists were an integral part of 'The Herds' opening act, just as artists from other countries will be as the project moves north.
Amir Nizar Zuabi was on that team and is now the artistic director of 'The Herds.' He was also a part of 'The Walk.'
'I think one of the big impacts of this project is the fact that this project is happening in 20 different cities," he said. "It will travel through different cultures, different places, and it accumulates. And it will tell the story of the Congo also in Norway, because we have partners everywhere."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
21-05-2025
- BBC News
Life-sized animal puppets to stampede across London in June
Life-sized animal puppets that have been stampeding through cities across Africa will make their way to London next public artwork is to highlight the animals travelling north to "flee the climate disaster", said The Walk Productions, which the presents large scale art. THE HERDS make their way to London from 27 to 29 June, visiting The Scoop and making their way from Soho to Somerset House, Coram's Fields, Camden High Street and Stratford. The animals began their stampede on 9 April in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and have so far travelled through Lagos, Dakar, Marrakesh, Casablanca and Rabat, encountering local musicians, artists, dancers and climate activists. The puppets are made from upscaled and recyclable materials – primarily cardboard and plywood – with a focus on bio-degradable and organic the animals travel they will grow in number and species including elephants, giraffes, antelope and will travel through Europe, including Madrid, Marseille, Venice and Paris, before arriving in the HERDS stampede will feature performances, theatrical readings and music along the way and a hunt is also planned to break out on Camden High London, they will continue their journey north to Greater Manchester and then travel through Scandinavia to the Arctic Nizar Zuabi, the artistic director, said: "THE HERDS is an urgent artistic response to the climate crisis, a living, breathing call to action that stampedes across continents. "Through the beauty and ferocity of these life-size creatures, we aim to spark dialogue, provoke thought, encourage engagement and inspire real change."
BBC News
04-05-2025
- BBC News
Calderdale Council hails 'amazing' CultureDale festival
An "amazing" year of celebrations marking a borough's 50th anniversary has come to an end after hundreds of culture festival, named CultureDale, included 135 projects and 550 events celebrating the Durrans, Calderdale Council's cabinet member for public services and communities, said the borough remained "the place to be" for culture, art and music despite the end of festivities."The Year of Culture has wowed a diverse range of people from across the borough, country and even the world," she said. "It has showcased the talent, creativity and distinctiveness that make Calderdale special, it has strengthened relationships with communities, artists, performers and creative professionals, and has paved the way for culture to play an even bigger part in Calderdale's future." CultureDale launched in April to the council, it was supported by 82 volunteers who spent more than 1,000 hours working on included the Anne Lister Memorial Weekend, Happy Valley Pride festival, and The Starlight Parade, which saw light-up puppets and performances in Halifax in the run-up to region also hosted Little Amal – a 12ft (3.6m) puppet of a 10-year old refugee girl - and an exhibition showcasing the "wet shirt" worn by Colin Firth as Mr Darcy in the BBC's Pride and programme concluded with a grand finale showcasing a series of light installations, called The the event a UFO-like sphere shone over Todmorden, while a "searchlight spectacular" lit up the Old Flour Mill in programme was funded by Calderdale Council, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Arts Council England, National Lottery Heritage Fund and the UK Shared Prosperity council said it was evaluating the impact of CultureDale and full data would be available in the coming months. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
The Guardian
25-04-2025
- The Guardian
Lifesize herd of puppet animals begins climate action journey from Africa to Arctic Circle
Hundreds of life-size animal puppets have begun a 20,000km (12,400 mile) journey from central Africa to the Arctic Circle as part of an ambitious project created by the team behind Little Amal, the giant puppet of a Syrian girl that travelled across the world. The public art initiative called The Herds, which has already visited Kinshasa and Lagos, will travel to 20 cities over four months to raise awareness of the climate crisis. It is the second major project from The Walk Productions, which introduced Little Amal, a 12-foot puppet, to the world in Gaziantep, near the Turkey-Syria border, in 2021. The award-winning project, co-founded by the Palestinian playwright and director Amir Nizar Zuabi, reached 2 million people in 17 countries as she travelled from Turkey to the UK. The Herds' journey began in Kinshasa's Botanical Gardens on 10 April, kicking off four days of events. It moved on to Lagos, Nigeria, the following week, where up to 5,000 people attended events performed by more than 60 puppeteers. On Friday the streets of Dakar in Senegal will be filled with more than 40 puppet zebras, wildebeest, monkeys, giraffes and baboons as they run through Médina, one of the busiest neighbourhoods, where they will encounter a creation by Fabrice Monteiro, a Belgium-born artist who lives in Senegal, and is known for his large-scale sculptures. On Saturday the puppets will be part of an event in the fishing village of Ngor. The first set of animal puppets was created by Ukwanda Puppetry and Designs Art Collective in Cape Town using recycled materials, but in each location local volunteers are taught how to make their own animals using prototypes provided by Ukwanda. The project has already attracted huge interest from people keen to get involved. In Dakar more than 300 artists applied for 80 roles as artists and puppet guides. About 2,000 people will be trained to make the puppets over the duration of the project. 'The idea is that we're migrating with an ever-evolving, growing group of animals,' Zuabi told the Guardian last year. Zuabi has spoken of The Herds as a continuation of Little Amal's journey, which was inspired by refugees, who often cite climate disaster as a trigger for forced migration. The Herds will put the environmental emergency centre stage, and will encourage communities to launch their own events to discuss the significance of the project and get involved in climate activism. 'The idea is to put in front of people that there is an emergency – not with scientific facts, but with emotions,' said The Herds' Senegal producer, Sarah Desbois. She expects thousands of people to view the four events being staged over the weekend. 'We don't have a tradition of puppetry in Senegal. As soon as the project started, when people were shown pictures of the puppets, they were going crazy.' Growing as it moves, The Herds will make its way from Dakar to Morocco, then into Europe, including London and Paris, arriving in the Arctic Circle in early August.
