National Day 47 - A Blanck Canvas

National Day 47, Abu Dhabi

Client: Done + Dusted

Date: October 2018

We designed and built 41 large animal puppets in 2018 for the arena extravaganza celebrating National Day 47 in Abu-Dhabi.

The large-scale animal puppets were based on animals native to the area and included the 4-metre-high Oryx puppets, flamingo puppets and 20 Gazelle puppets. The puppets were made of sculpted semi-translucent foam, scenic painted and glowed with programmable DMX lighting.

Some of our team travelled to the United Arab Emirates as puppet leaders to teach local performers how to manipulate the puppets during the weeks of rehearsals. We were thrilled to be a part of a celebration on such a massive scale which included jet planes, fireworks and thousands of performers.

Khalee J Times – Puppet show to bring back the history of UAE
The National – Thousands flock to grandest national day celebration

A Blanck Canvas acknowledges that we build and create on the lands of the Wurundjeri people and wish to acknowledge them as Traditional Owners. We acknowledge and respect Traditional Owners as the original custodians of Australia’s land and waters. We pay our respects to Elders past and present.