Talkin’ ’bout his generation

Talkin’ ’bout his generation
Image: William Yang / Photo: Edwin Monk

William Yang and Sydney go together like steak and kidney, the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, yin and yang. Photographer, storyteller, performer, documentary maker and much more, he’s a renowned chronicler of this city.

So it’s odd to think of him as a Queenslander. Or as someone lacking confidence in Sydney’s social circles.

“I had come from a culturally deprived background, Queensland in the ’60s, so I wasn’t totally confident as a person when I first arrived here. But with my camera, I was confident.

“The camera gave me a confidence, so then I could attend these parties and events, because I had a role to play. If you’ve got a role to play, you can feel part of something.”

Part of something, he certainly was. Shortly after arriving here in 1969, Yang and his camera became mainstays of Sydney’s artistic, fashion and gay scenes. His role as photographer of these scenes in the 1970s and ’80s led to My Generation, a multimedia project spanning photographs, film and storytelling.

But it’s photos that form the backbone of My Generation; images of great Sydney characters, past and present, including renowned artist Brett Whiteley, fashion designer Jenny Kee, film director Jim Sharman, actress Kate Fitzpatrick, and Nobel Prize-winning author Patrick White.

“A lot of the photos were taken at parties, so they’re not posed, and I like those photographs best,” says Yang.

“I generally prefer them to portraits, which is a still kind of photograph. I think there’s more energy in the ‘on the run’ kind of photo. My philosophy about taking photos is of the camera capturing a moment in time.”

The photos in question are currently on display in My Generation, the exhibition, in the Maunsell Wickes at Barry Stern Galleries in Paddington, as part of the Head On Photo Festival.

Meanwhile, the film William Yang: My Generation, which brings the stories behind the photos to life on the big screen, will be shown on Saturday, June 8 at Dendy Opera Quays as part of the Sydney Film Festival, immediately followed by William Yang: In Conversation at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA).

And then there’s a TV screening of the film at 10.30pm Sunday, June 16 on ABC-1.

“It’s really quite exciting,” says Yang. “As a photographer, you always want your work to be accessible to people, so to have work from previous decades screening and showing in exhibitions is really quite satisfying.”

Visit www.sff.org.au for film info and tickets and www.maunsellwickes.com for exhibition details.

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