PUPPET THEATERS

These fascinating objects for children can capture adults as well, even if made of simple materials like wood, cloth, shadows. Stefania Ricci takes inspiration from them to evoke a child’s sense of magic, as well as an artists’ depth. She moves between citations of Asian shadow theater, cut outs, magic lanterns, pop-up books, and dioramas, re-evoking the origins of photography. The frames add another level to the complex semantics, even maintaining the immediate, recognizably of the figures, appearing as three-dimensional surprises.