Geography: Europe > Northern Europe > United Kingdom
Year: 2021
Produced by: Produced by David Lan and Tracey Swaward; Good Chance; The Walk Productions Ltd; In association with Handspring Puppet Company and St Ann’s Warehouse (for later New York presentation)
Creative Team: Directed by Amir Nizar Zuabi; Created by Good Chance; Little Amal designed by Handspring Puppet Company
Synopsis: The Walk with Little Amal is a travelling transnational 3.5-metre puppet of a ten-year-old Syrian refugee child. In 2021, Amal travelled from the Syria-Turkey border across more than sixty-five towns in nine countries, meeting communities through public performances and welcomes. Amal uses public procession and community, civic participation centred round site-specific events rather than conventional stage plot. The artwork emphasises child displacement and refugee journeys in a search for safety. Similarly, the project rejects nationalist hostility toward refugees by placing a vulnerable child figure in a public space. This prompts the audience to consider how they will respond, emphasising the responsibility or refusal in spectatorship.
Source: Good Chance, Public Artwork entry for The Walk with Little Amal: https://www.goodchance.org.uk/thewalk The Walk with Little Amal website: https://www.walkwithamal.org/