Giant Puppets Storm and Little Amal Meet for Parade Through Govan

STORM was created by Edinburgh-based Vision Mechanics

10-meter-tall puppet STORM met with Little Amal in Govan on 10th November. ‘Goddess of the Sea’ STORM’s purpose is to make us aware of climate change and to be grateful for our oceans and seasides. Little Amal represents a depiction of a young Syrian refugee child, and the 3.5-meter-tall puppet travelled almost 5,000 miles to raise awareness and support for displaced people.

The pair met at the old Govan Graving Docks met by local primary school children who chanted for the puppets as they presented the posters they made. Local rappers also performed for STORM as they waited on Amal’s arrival.

STORM and Little Amal Shake Hands at First Meeting

STORM herself is a sight to be seen and, as you can imagine, takes a lot of work to run smoothly. A Vision Mechanics crew member said that they arrived in Govan at 5:30am this morning after leaving Edinburgh and started setting up the puppet at 8am in time for the 12:30pm performance.

A whopping 10 puppeteers are needed for STORM to function, each pulling on the mechanics in her chest to make her walk. A telehandler holds her up as she weighs in at around 650 kilograms, and every pull from a puppeteer has around a 30-kilogram weight behind it, which means the team must swap around every 10 minutes.