The Ferals [Puppets]

Designed by Garth Frost

Puppet maker Tina Matthews

Australia, 1993

Courtesy of Emma de Vries

Edie Kurzer, Australia, 2020

Object On display
Photograph by Egmont Contreras, ACMI.

“They discovered fame and fortune and they’re never going back.” Or so proclaimed the catchy hook of The Ferals TV theme song. This kids’ program debuted on ABC TV in 1994 and then, after two successful seasons, it has endured in Australian pop culture. Capitalising on the grunge aesthetic of the time, it followed an unruly bunch of feral animals living in a share house with flatmates played by human actors. The ditzy rabbit Mixy and sassy cat Modigliana were key members of the show, adding to the tradition of children’s programming featuring puppets in starring roles, including Lift Off (1992-95) and Mr Squiggle (1959-99).

Curator Notes

Edie Kurzer is a celebrated Australian designer. Twice she has won the AACTA Award, the most prestigious prize for costume design in Australia, for her work on the iconic 6 part TV series Picnic at Hanging Rock (Foxtel /FremantleMedia) and the highly lauded ABC mini-series Molly. With Picnic she also won the coveted Australian Production Design Guild’s prize and in 2019 won it once more for the feature film Judy & Punch.

Over the past twenty-five years in Australia Edie has made crucial contributions to major productions such as: the Gillian Armstrong-directed documentary feature film Women He’s Undressed (about Orry Kelly); the influential TV mini-series Secret River and Violent Earth; and the feature films South Solitary (starring Miranda Otto), Look Both Ways, Matching Jack, and Thank God He Met Lizzie (starring Cate Blanchett, Richard Roxburgh and Frances O’Connor). She also designed costumes for Josh Thomas on his ground-breaking television series Please Like Me (season 4).

Internationally, Edie has worked with director Bill Bennett on both In a Savage land and Tempted (starring Burt Reynolds and Saffron Burrows) and with the renowned British film and theatre director Mike Leigh on the Royal Stratford Theatre’s production of A Greek Tragedy (London/Edinburgh/Sydney).

Edie has also collaborated in vital cultural and educational projects in Indigenous communities in major cities and in remote regions of Australia.

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Collection

Not in ACMI's collection

On display until

16 February 2031

ACMI: Gallery 1

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

Curatorial section

The Story of the Moving Image → Foyer → Entry → FSF-02. Fed Sq Foyer Cabinets → FSF Cabinet 2

Object Types

3D Object

Diorama

Collected

930 times

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If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/112012--the-ferals/ |title=The Ferals [Puppets] |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=19 November 2024 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}