TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An art teacher at Yue Ming Elementary School, Park Li (李公元), was invited to draw the key visual image and a poster for World Puppetry Day, which took place on Thursday (March 21).
Li was commissioned by the Union Internationale de la Marionnette (UNIMA), and his poster was available in 32 different languages. His whimsical black-and-white images won over legions of international fans, leading to numerous poster requests from all over the world.
Li is the first artist from Taiwan to receive a UNIMA commission. In an interview with CNA, he said UNIMA contacted him in 2023, and he was pleasantly surprised as he typically just shares his work on Facebook.
After graduating from the National Taipei Normal University (NTNU), Li went on to National Taitung University’s Institute of Children's Literature. He majored in art and has a deep-seated belief in the therapeutic value of art.
"When I was a child, I used to be tutored by an art teacher who was strict and made the class uncomfortable as we had to draw whatever he drew. So when I teach children now, I let them freely express themselves."
Upon being invited to draw a poster for UNIMA, Li said he did not set any limits for himself. He just started with the recognizable shape of a string puppet.
"The string puppet is a common image representing puppet theater around the world. In my past works, I liked to draw characters like elves and ghosts, adding out-of-place features such as eyes on legs and multiple heads on shoulders.”
Li is no newcomer to puppet theater, as he previously taught at Taipei’s Pingdeng Elementary School and ran the school’s glove puppet theater troupe for 17 years. He is also very observant of various puppetry art styles. Likewise, he said that through communication with UNIMA, the group is well aware of Taiwan's outstanding puppetry art tradition.
When invited to draw the poster, he hoped to make people around the world feel happy and healed when viewing his work. In particular, he wanted the Ukrainian version of the poster to soothe the souls of many people caught in war.
