Mandarava is an artist, puppet maker, storyteller and creator of rituals. She lives and works at Rivendell, another Buddhist retreat centre in East Sussex.
She says: ‘It was after the death of my youngest brother Tom that my interest and puppets and puppetry grew. I set out to make a mythical puppet version of Tom and then found myself wanting to tell his story. I discovered in handling the puppet how a tenderness and vulnerability could be communicated. This began my love too of the power of story telling. I’ve been making and working with puppets now for the last fifteen years’
Take a look at Mandarava’s work and art on her website Bluebird Puppets