24 June 2022

Little Amal arrives in Bristol to mark Refugee Week

Little Amal is a 3.5-metre giant puppet which was used as the centrepiece of a performance art project called The Walk in 2021.

She represents a fictional 9 year old Syrian girl, embodying displaced children today.  The giant puppet was created by the South Africa based Handspring Puppet Company.  “The Walk” tells Amar’s search for her mother and her flight to safety.

Dozens of designers and craftspeople combined to create the puppet, which is controlled by at least three puppeteers: two to move the hands, and one interior puppeteer who walks on heavily-weighted stilts, and controls the head, eyes and mouth by hand via a mechanism called the harp.

Bristol is honoured to be a host location for the second leg of Little Amal’s visit to the UK alongside places including Birmingham and Stonehenge. Presented by Bristol Old Vic and partners The Walk Productions, Bristol City Council and West of England Combined Authority, Little Amal’s walk through the city will be an invitation to everyone to join in and give her a warm Bristolian welcome.

Tom Morris said:
“We are excited to welcome Little Amal to Bristol to meet the community, to see our beautiful city and to find out more about Bristol’s status as a City of Sanctuary. Amal travels everywhere with a spirit of curiosity.  By welcoming her to Bristol we will also learn from her, understanding more about our own complicated past and our dream of being a fairer and more welcoming city in the future.”

Little Amal’s Bristol journey will begin at 4pm outside Bristol Old Vic on King Street and then via Welsh Back to Bristol’s famous St Nicholas Market and historic Corn Street – hearing music and watching performances by local artists and meeting local communities – before leaving the city at the Harbour.

Photo Credit:  Mike Whitton