Daniel Mudie Cunningham: Proud Mary

Proud Mary collapses more than fifteen years of Daniel Mudie Cunningham’s life into a video performance in which he is lip-syncing his chosen funeral song – Tina Turner’s "Proud Mary."

The work memorialises the life of a queer optimist, a “Proud Mary,” adamant that he’ll “keep on burning” and “rolling on the river.” Referencing the aesthetic tropes of drag and diva worship, Cunningham has committed to documenting his ageing process by performing Proud Mary every five years until the series is interrupted by his death.

Part of the Mardi Gras+ Program