Reviving the Lost Art of Cambodian Shadow Puppetry - Atlas Obscura

Reviving the Lost Art of Cambodian Shadow Puppetry

Meet Mann Kosal, founder of the Sovanna Phum Center in Cambodia and a master of large shadow puppetry, an ancient art that dates back to before the Angkorian period in the seventh century. During the brutal regime of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, this form of expression and storytelling all but disappeared; at least 80 percent of artists, including shadow puppeteers, had been killed. It’s Kosal’s quest to revive this nearly lost art and help it take center stage in Cambodia’s culture once more. 

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