“THIS DOCUMENTATION MAY NOT BE PRETTY, BUT WE RECOGNISE IT. WE WANT OUR STORIES TOLD.”
SEEING AND BEING SEEN An image becoming an icon, a photographer becoming iconic. – William Yang is the legend both behind and in front of the lens. By ANGELICA SILVA
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rowing up in a Chinese immigrant family in North Queensland, moving to Brisbane, and then coming out as a gay man in Sydney, William’s photography captures the shifting cultural and political pressures he faced growing up. We spoke to William about how his work is rethinking the minority status and visibility of minorities as a whole. Hi William, can you tell me about what your life was like growing up? Although I was born in Mareeba in North
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Queensland, I grew up in Dimbulah, a nearby, smaller town. We were the only Chinese family in the district, although, I wasn’t aware of my ethnicity until I was about six years old. One day, one of the kids at school called me a “Ching Chong Chinaman”. I had no idea what he was talking about, so I went home to my mother and said, “Mum, I’m not Chinese, am I?” My mother looked at me very sternly and said, “Yes you are.” Her tone was hard, and it shocked me. I knew at that moment being Chinese was like a terrible curse and I could not rely on my mother for help. STYLEMAGAZINES.COM.AU
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As a gay man from a Chinese immigrant family, what were some of the cultural and political pressures you faced while growing up? I always regarded myself as Australian. But when I went to high school in Cairns, I was much more aware of being racially different, but in a negative way. The way that I dealt with my ethnicity was to completely deny it. I identified with being Australian. I moved away from racial taunts, and I shut down any conversations about my Chinese heritage. I knew from a very early age that I was attracted to men. I knew that this was