Jason was born in 1963 in Athens, Greece. Lives and works in Paris.
The work "Shadows of the Empire", inspired by the traditional Turkish "Karagöz", consists of 41 shadow
puppets and a projection screen.
At first sight abstract black figures, they show the maps, the outlines of 39 countries conquered partially or
totally by the Ottoman Empire, and two allied countries. They cover the time from the end of the 13th century
until the fall of the empire at the end of the First World War.
These countries still inhabit history books and/or participate in present news. Certain countries have changed
their name or size, but all of them were part of the great game of History: Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Austria,
Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Crimea, Croatia, Egypt, Estonia, Georgia, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Macedonia, Morocco, Moldavia,
Montenegro, Palestine (The West Bank and Gaza), Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and Yemen.
All the country puppets have the same size, about 30 cm long, independently of their real geographic scale.
Thus they become pictograms or signs.
Ideally made out of camel leather by a Karagöz player, this actual version has been produced with translucent
painted synthetic material.
The 41 puppets with their wooden sticks are stuck on a rack, waiting for the puppet player to give them life.
