Uno de los momentos más emocionantes del Congreso de Unima fue la entrega del premio de la Comisión de Mujeres a la titiritera japonesa Noriko Nishimoto instalada desde hace años en Australia. Aunque no pudo asistir la artista premiada a recoger el premio, el momento de la entrega fue solemnizado magníficamente por Tamiko Onagi y Darja de Caluwe, ambas vestidas con un elegante kimono. Con breves y emocionantes palabras, Tamiko Onagi leyó el acuerdo de la Comisión de Mujeres de premiar a esta veterana titiritera estrechamente relacionada con el Spare Parts Puppet Theatre. El premio consiste en dos marionetas realizadas por Damiet van Dalsum.
Noriko Nishimoto
Reproducimos aquí unas palabras ya publicadas en esta revista de Jennifer Pfeiffer, Presidenta de Unima Australia: “Australia is a large country and with communities spread widely apart. Australia has no long puppetry traditions, any being the vicinity of only 200 years, since no indigenoes puppetry forms seem to exist. There are few people that we can name as contributors to what might serve as what could be called definitive Australian puppetry styles that display Australian identity. With these circumstances we continue in our struggle to establish these legacies for the puppetry arts in Australia, the fortunes of puppetry having considerable ebb and flow over the last decades.
“Noriko is a person who has consistently contributed to the puppetry arts, to it’s genealogy and legacy, she is indeed a quiet achiever. There is a generation of young, new puppeteers on the eastern side of the country who I am sure, have not yet heard of her. Yet she teaches, inspires, and encourages young puppeteers in her home state of WA, and if they are anything to measure by, we need more of Noriko in the rest of the country, and beyond. Her work is a credit to puppetry.”
Adjuntamos a esta nota las magníficas fotos sacadas durante la ceremonia de la entrega del premio por Jim Tobias.
Tamiko Onagi y Darja de Caluwe
Darja de Caluwe, Tamiko Oangi y Ranjara Pandey
