A MAN from Shiplake is walking 1,000km through France wearing a giant giraffe puppet.
Sebastian Mayer is recreating the journey made by Zarafa, a real giraffe, in 1827 after being gifted to Charles X of France by the Pasha of Egpyt. Zarafa is an Arabic name meaning lovely or charming one.
The puppeteer set off on April 15 and is scheduled to finish on June 24, stopping off in eight towns and cities en route.
Seb, who attended Gillotts School in Henley and performed with the Acorn Music Theatre Group as a boy, came up with the idea of the moving arts project two years ago.
His puppet is made from carbon fibre and is 3.5m tall (11ft 5in) and weighs 8.5kg (18lbs).
He made it with the help of his girlfriend and fellow puppeteer Daisy Beattie. It has eight replaceable cardboard skins, necks and heads.
Seb said: “I am beyond excited to be on this artistic journey. It is a perfect mixture of my passions and skills — creating giant puppets, hiking and speaking French.”
The idea came to him during the covid-19 lockdown when he discovered his new passion for hiking and walked 1,300km from Sussex to Inverness, where his father now lives.
Seb, a graduate of Central St Martins art school in London, says: “When the majority of work within my field dried up during the pandemic I started walking.
“I thought how could I combine my new passion for hiking and my long-term passion for making giant puppets.”
In each place he stops, including Marseille, Avignon, Valence, Lyon, Chalon-sur-Saône, Avallon and Montereau, he is holding community workshops where each of the skins will be drawn and painted on by locals to represent their region.
In Marseille, Zarafa was painted using earth from Provence and
Puppeteer walks 1,000km in France dressed as giraffe
A MAN from Shiplake is walking 1,000km through France wearing a giant giraffe puppet.
Sebastian Mayer is recreating the journey made by Zarafa, a real giraffe, in 1827 after being gifted to Charles X of France by the Pasha of Egpyt. Zarafa is an Arabic name meaning lovely or charming one.
The puppeteer set off on April 15 and is scheduled to finish on June 24, stopping off in eight towns and cities en route.
Seb, who attended Gillotts School in Henley and performed with the Acorn Music Theatre Group as a boy, came up with the idea of the moving arts project two years ago.
His puppet is made from carbon fibre and is 3.5m tall (11ft 5in) and weighs 8.5kg (18lbs).
He made it with the help of his girlfriend and fellow puppeteer Daisy Beattie. It has eight replaceable cardboard skins, necks and heads.
Seb said: “I am beyond excited to be on this artistic journey. It is a perfect mixture of my passions and skills — creating giant puppets, hiking and speaking French.”
The idea came to him during the covid-19 lockdown when he discovered his new passion for hiking and walked 1,300km from Sussex to Inverness, where his father now lives.
Seb, a graduate of Central St Martins art school in London, says: “When the majority of work within my field dried up during the pandemic I started walking.
“I thought how could I combine my new passion for hiking and my long-term passion for making giant puppets.”
In each place he stops, including Marseille, Avignon, Valence, Lyon, Chalon-sur-Saône, Avallon and Montereau, he is holding community workshops where each of the skins will be drawn and painted on by locals to represent their region.
In Marseille, Zarafa was painted using earth from Provence and