STORY GIANTS OF EDEN
Eden | 2011–2012

An artist-led project with eighteen schools, oral storyteller Dominic Kelly and Horse + Bamboo Theatre, culminating in large-scale public performances seen by more than 5,000 people.

Story Giants of Eden was a large-scale storytelling and making project developed with eighteen schools across Eden in 2011–2012.

Oral storyteller Dominic Kelly worked with children on performance and retelling. Horse + Bamboo Theatre led prop-making sessions. The eighteen giant puppets were designed through engagement with the schools and built by Dawn Hurton who also coordinated the separate school processes into a district-wide public event.

The project included workshops, mini-events, rehearsals, transport and a May Day presentation watched by more than 5,000 people.

Children were treated as cultural contributors. Stories moved from speech into drawing, construction, costume, procession and public space.

Dawn Hurton originated and led the artistic framework, coordinated artists and schools, and held the many parts together. The project remains significant because it established a way for knowledge to move between oral story, made object and collective encounter.