Here in Papua New Guinea, it is quite rare to see Magicians, or the act of magic being practiced.
However, a young Central lad has taken his interest and quick fingers with the art of Magic here in the country to a whole new level.
Jesse Raimo, 20 years of age from Keapara and Gaire in Central who was born and raised in Lae said that his interest in magic started approximately about 3 years ago when he found a book titled ‘Sleight of Hands’ at a second-hand shop.
“I was curious when I saw this book and I really wanted to try it out, so I bought it.”
He added that he bought a pack of playing cards and practiced for a while whilst trying to figure it out.
“I thought that if I could try fool my family, then I could take this art out to the streets.”
Young Jesse resides here in the Nation’s Capital.
He currently is not in school and is part of a family of five.
Jesse said that it is a great feeling when you successfully ace your magic tricks, and it leaves you with that satisfaction when you leave the spectators in shock.
“All sorts of crazy reactions is one factor that really pushes me to keep going.”
Although there has been a lot of good responds from friends and families, Jesse has received his fair share of negative feedbacks from people who did not like and support what he is doing.
“I had to feed on any bad energy in order to prove them wrong and used it as a steppingstone to build myself up each day.”
Mr Raimo does not like to be called a Magician or that what he does be called magic, instead he prefers it called ‘Sleight of Hands’ which means “quick fingers” or “trickster fingers”.
“My favorite card trick which I can do with eyes closed is called the ‘card to mouth’. I like to see the look on people’s faces when I leave them all in shock.”
Jesse currently is doing a magic series for Pepsi called the ‘Magic Monday’ and every Monday, Pepsi uploads a video of him doing magic tricks.
“It all started when I uploaded a video where I floated a Pepsi can in front of kids and being kids, their reactions were priceless.”
“So, I tagged Pepsi PNG in the video and that is how I got engaged with Pepsi PNG for Magic Monday.”
In the next five years, Jesse hopes to expand his art by sharing his knowledge of sleight of hand throughout the country.