New Yorkers will have an unusual—and decidedly larger-than-life—visitor this fall when 50 life-sized buffalo puppets take to the streets of Lower Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn for Return of the Buffalo: Tatanka Owe Akupi.
Taking place September 19 and 20, the two-day public art spectacle will bring a herd of buffalo into the city as part of an interactive experience focused on resilience, history, reckoning and renewal.
Created by Amir Nizar Zuabi in partnership with elders from Lenape and Lakota Tribes, the project will feature approximately 150 New Yorkers operating and animating the massive puppets. The herd will roam, graze and run through city streets while interacting with residents and visitors and inviting people to join the procession.
The event is being presented by St. Ann’s Warehouse and The Walk Productions, in association with Theater of War Productions and KBH Arts. The same creative team was behind Little Amal, the 12-foot-tall puppet of a Syrian refugee girl who traveled across New York City in 2022, appearing at more than 50 events throughout all five boroughs.
This time, the scale is considerably larger.
As the buffalo move through Downtown Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan, parks, plazas and public spaces along the routes will become stages for live performances and cultural activations. Acclaimed actors, civic leaders, gospel choirs, dance companies, marching bands, musicians and tribal leaders will participate in events connected to the herd’s journey.
The buffalo was selected as the central figure because of its significance to North America’s Indigenous peoples and its remarkable history of survival. The animal, which became the country’s national mammal, was driven close to extinction during the late 19th century before conservation efforts, including work by Native peoples, helped its population recover.
Zuabi said the project is intended to encourage audiences to consider both the history and future of the United States.
“The land that we call America today has been here for far more than 250 years, and this production memorializes that,” he said. He described the project as an opportunity for communities to acknowledge the country’s history while looking toward a new chapter with empathy and respect.
Susan Feldman, founder and artistic director of St. Ann’s Warehouse, said the buffalo represents both the destruction of nature and the possibility of restoration.
The puppets are being designed by Cape Town-based Ukwanda Puppets of South Africa, with puppetry direction by Craig Leo. The buffalo will be fabricated locally and assembled at St. Ann’s in Brooklyn Bridge Park this August, where performers will train ahead of the September appearances.
Event times and detailed routes are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.