Shadow Movements

“Shadow Movements” is a public arts program for newcomer, immigrant, and diaspora youth interested in art, writing, crafting, film, animation, and storytelling. 

In this program, professional artists mentor youth to write personal stories,  to record  voice-overs of their stories in interesting ways, to create shadow puppets based on original character-designs, and to bring those shadow puppets to life through animation. 

This program includes a field trip to REEF studios, where students record their poems and stories in a professional recording studio, a shadow puppetry performance by established local puppeteers Jess Nguyen and Fred C. Riley III,  a guest lecture by animator and shadow artist Lydia Greer, and a music workshop by renowned music composer Sahba Aminikia. 

At the end of the program, youth have the opportunity to screen their films in a public film festival and art show at the ARTogether gallery space, alongside professional artists. 

Shadow Movements uses art to expose youth to writing skills, public speaking, filmmaking, arts professionalism, mental health practices, the experimentation and playfulness of artmaking, and the empowerment of self-expression. Shadow puppetry is a craft full of unexpected excitement. 

Some testimonials from 2024 youth cohort: 

“Making art is like therapy, it helps you understand your feelings.”

“[In this program], I was exposed to more cultures and it made me more open-minded.”

“Presenting this project made me realize that my art/work has value to people other than me and that what I have to say is interesting. It makes me feel like my voice is being heard.”

Our Team:

Artist Mentors:

Paola Soyumi Ramírez Peña (Writing)

Paola Soyumi Ramírez Peña (she/they)is a poet, screenwriter, and sociologist on multiple planets. She is the host and creator of Somos Poetas Workshop Series and Local Fruit Podcast. Paola is a performing member of In Full Color, an artist coalition of WoC. Their research spans queer representations of the Virgen de Guadalupe and the importance of third spaces. They are an East Oakland nerd, taurus bull in pasture, the eldest of four, aspiring bassist and napper, allergic to everything, and constantly on the hunt for the best carnitas. She is a graduate of the University of Kansas. 

Jess Nguyen (Shadow Puppetry)

Jessica Nguyen (she/her) is a Bay Area grown performing and visual artist exploring themes of the estrangement of humanity. Drawing on her multidisciplinary background in the arts, sciences, and education, she is currently building shadow puppet shows examining our sentimental relationships to environmental catastrophe.

Angie Chapparro (Animation) 

Angie Chaparro Romero (them/them) is a queer Colombian stop motion animator. They specialize in felt, sculpture, wood, and honestly most crafts they can get their hands on. Their art focuses on childhood joy and healing, involving bright colors and whimsical characters.

A lot of their work is focused on their upbringing as a Colombian person, focusing on their culture and family memories.They got interested in Stop motion after watching Coraline at the age of 8 and getting inspired by the beauty and intricacies of this style of animation.Angie graduated from California College of the Arts with a Bachelors of animation degree and is excited to teach about the lovely world of stop motion!

Translator/Workshop Artistic Assistant:

Suzan Borazjani

Suzan Borazjani is a translator, installation artist, sculptor, architect, and a first generation immigrant from Iran. As a designer and artist, she creates spaces and experiences that nurture healing, creativity, and connections. Her work blends architecture, interior design, art installations, and furniture design, treating every element as pivotal to the whole.

Guest Artists: 

Sahba Aminikia

Sahba Aminikia is a Musician, composer and TED Fellow, the founder and the artistic director of the Flying Carpet Children Festival which occurs yearly in the city of Mardin, Turkey, near the border of Syria, serving more than 5000 children suffering from the trauma of the war of Syrian, Iraqi, Kurdish, and Turkish origin.

Lydia Greer 

Lydia Greer is a widely exhibiting interdisciplinary visual artist, filmmaker, animator, and the artistic director of Facing West Shadows, a Lumia arts collective working with shadow casting and hybridizing art forms to create magical acts of rebellion as experimental art in the gold rush climate of the SF Bay Area.

Program Manager:

Sabina Kariat

Sabina Shanti Kariat (she/they) is an Indian-American community worker, animator, artist, and filmmaker based in San Francisco. She creates animations for documentary films about diaspora narratives and fights for liberation and human rights. Sabina has been a teaching artist throughout San Francisco, and has led co-creation workshops in the Bay, in rural Jharkhand India, and in Istanbul and Reyhanli, Turkey where she completed her Fulbright Research Fellowship about representing diasporic identities through traditional puppetry.