If standing in a bookshop sobbing isn’t your thing, it might be an idea to read Shaun Tan’s latest offering The Arrival in the privacy of your own home. This powerful allegorical novel delivers a heart-wrenching visual treat of sepia toned pencil drawings exploring immigration and a search for belonging.
The clarity of the narrative in The Arrival makes it hard to believe that there is not a single written word, and yet from the beginning of the text you are drawn into a dreamy and deeply moving film-like story of loss and finding belonging in a new and strange community. The deftly woven imaginary world is derived from a complex blend of pure imagination, art and historical photography, a juxtaposition which foregrounds the emotional and visual experience of being an immigrant.
Speaking at Planet Books earlier this month, Shaun Tan was reluctant to discuss the content of the work, preferring to allow the evocative imagery to remain open to interpretation by the reader. Ironically, after five years of grinding pencils in his room to produce The Arrival, Tan is himself on the verge of departure. Perth born artist and Mt Lawley local no longer, sadly Tan is departing for Melbourne.
Winner of the CBCA picture book of the year for The Rabbits ‘ a collaboration with John Marsden exploring the colonisation of Australia, and CBCA honour awards for the Red Tree and The Lost Thing, Shaun Tan’s exceptional latest offering cements his growing international reputation as an artist of unique talent and penetrating vision.
Further info:
www.shauntan.net
www.planetvideo.com.au
see also mural ‘The Tea Party’ at Subiaco Town Library.
