Performance4a

William Yang

William Yang was born in North Queensland, his grandparents migrating from China to the Top End in the 1880s. After completing a Bachelor of Architecture at Queensland University he moved to Sydney in 1969 and worked as a freelance photographer documenting Sydney's social life which included the glamorous celebrity set and the hedonistic, sub-cultural, gay community.  His first solo exhibition "Syndeyphiles" in 1977 at the Australian Centre for Photography caused a sensation because of its frank depiction of the Sydney gay and party scene. In the mid eighties William began to explore his Chinese heritage which had hitherto been lost to him by his complete assimilation into the Australian way of life. His photographic themes expanded to include landscapes and the Chinese in Australia. During this period he made visits to China. In 1989 he integrated his skills as a writer and a visual artist. He began to perform monologues with slide projection in the theatre. These slide shows were a form of performance theatre and have become his favourite form of showing his work. The third one, Sadness, wove together two themes: William's discovery of his Chinese heritage and the rituals of dying and death in Sydney. The piece has been extremely successful and like his more recent work has toured all over Australia and the world. He has made ten full length works in all, including China, Blood Links, Objects for Meditation and My Generation. www.williamyang.com

 

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