By Tim Finn and Ken Duncum with film by Sue Healey
“Salvage something that we need to remember From the wreck of history
Family images of fading splendour
Where they lead I’m following…”
– Tim Finn, White Cloud
Tim Finn, legendary New Zealand singer-songwriter, member of Crowded House and founding member of Split Enz, will perform White Cloud – a musing meditative performance about family, identity and home – this January at Arts Centre Melbourne.
White Cloud alchemises observation and contemplation, photographs and journals, narrative and music to deliver a potent celebration of family, ancestry and what it means to be Pakeha (a Māori language term for New Zealanders who are of European descent).
Through songs and stories, Tim introduces us to family members past and present, whose voices echo through journals, letters and memoirs – matched by dreamlike imagery drawn from 8mm home movies shot largely by his father, Richard Finn.
An inspired collaboration between Finn, leading New Zealand playwright/screenwriter Ken Duncum and video artist Sue Healey, White Cloud has moved audiences and critics alike in New Zealand, Australia, Ireland and the UK.
“We always envisaged White Cloud as an immersive experience, not a narrative in the traditional sense. More a series of impressions of people, places and our family backgrounds, which together tell a larger story,” explains Duncum.
A richly textured blend of beautifully melodic music and poetically evocative prose brought to life in the intimate confines of the Fairfax Studio, this inventive reflection on the lives of families growing up in New Zealand, loosening ties to the UK and encountering Maori culture is not to be missed.
Arts Centre Melbourne presents
White Cloud: Tim Finn
Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio
13 – 15 January, 2017
Book at artscentremelbourne.com.au
