The History of Hand Shadows

The History of Hand Shadows

D
Drew Colby-Hand Shadow Artist
786 Video Views·Jul 26, 2024

How do you tell the story of an artform like shadowgraphy (or hand shadows) which, by its very nature, has few artefacts and a fairly insubstantial documentation in the pre-digital age?

In this video Drew Colby explores the earliest records of hand shadows and hand shadow performance practice starting from the Stone Age and weaving a magical narrative right up to our century.

Please leave a comment with your theories and facts about hand shadows below.

Artist credits:

Moronobu Hishikawa (1618 – 1694) Japan
Ryūryūkyo Shinsai (1799? - 1823?) Japan
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 - 1858) Japan
Norman Rockwell (1894 – 1978) USA

Performers:

Félicien Trewey (1848 – 1920) France
Edward Victor (1887 – 1964) England
Drew Colby (1974 - ) England

The poem at the end of the video is from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam,
translated from the original language (Persian/Farsi) by Edward FitzGerald.

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