William Yang ~ Milestone ~ OzAsia Review

William Yang with Elena Kats-Chernin
Adelaide Town Hall
Fri 31 Oct, 2025

William Yang has indeed lived a fascinating life. Born in country Queensland he had no concept of what ‘being Chinese’ was in his early years. He checked with his mother one day and she answered curtly, “Yes, you are Chinese.’  Wang suffered the usual taunts and insults that Australian school children dished out to migrants at the time, and Wang came to regard being Chinese as a curse.

In time he moved to Sydney and in the early seventies he came out as a gay man. It was here he became interested in photography. He eventually became known as a photographer of performers and celebrities. His slides were littered with images of the cultural and artistic literati of the times: Jim Sharman (director of Hair), Richard Neville (editor of Oz Magazine), Bob Geldof (Boomtown Rats), Ida Buttrose, Patrick White, Brett Whitely, etc.

He has been at the centre of the history of the gay movement in Australia. He was the first person to have naked images of gay men feature in a public exhibition; he was there at the first gay and lesbian Mardi Gras in Sydney in 1978;  he was very involved in the Same Sex marriage campaign in 2017. And sadly, he was at the heart of the AIDS epidemic of the 80s. His images of dying friends are perhaps the most confronting in this exhibition. Unashamedly graphic, they pull no punches in portraying the ravages AIDS wrought on its victims and their communities.

Another key aspect of Wang’s story was his return to China to try and understand his ethnic origins. As he said himself, he now needed to ‘come out’ as a Chinese man.

Milestone is essentially a collection of multiple lesser milestones in Yang’s life. Yang’s narration is supported by a vast number of slides, with frequent musical interludes of music composed by Elena Kats-Chernin. Though broken into two or three minute fragments it was interesting to contemplate the music as one whole piece. Despite the interruptions it did feel like that – there was a thematic consistency across the performance and a sameness of tonal quality that aided  reflection on the material just viewed. This was especially appreciated after some of the more confronting images.

On a much lighter note my favourite moment in the whole show was early on when we were viewing slides of the countryside around where Yang grew up with the music providing an aura of majesty. It was clear that though his ethnic origins were far removed from this land the Australian countryside of his youth meant a great deal to him.

In many ways William Yang typifies what might be considered the typical artist for the OzAsia festival. I personally would have enjoyed more analysis of how Australian and Chinese cultures worked together to create the man Willam Yang has become. He is in the ideal position to explore how Chinese and Australian cultural influences reconcile with each other. This performance however focuses more on his role in the gay community, his family, and his love of photography. And perhaps that’s what a photographer should do: let the pictures do the talking.

Music played by Ensemble Lumen.

This review also published on The Clothesline.

1988 - OzAsia Music Review

 

Space Theatre, Tue 24 Oct

1988 was a big year for Australia. White Australia celebrated its bicentenary. It was also a big year for Dung Nguyen. He emigrated from Vietnam to join his father in Australia.

1988 is an inspiring cultural event. It attempts to portray the Vietnamese experience of migration and resettlement in a strange and foreign land through music, sound, and projected imagery. It is a beautifully intense creation.

It begins with Nguyen sitting on the floor playing a Vietnamese zither (dan tranh), that Asian stringed instrument whose evocative sounds are synonymous with traditional music from East Asia. Slowly the zither invites other sounds to enter: a sparse piano, an aching trumpet, deeply resonant double bass, vibraphone, and various other forms of percussion – most notably a gorgeous bamboo xylophone (dan trung). All the while the projected blurred images are becoming clearer as Nguyen gets closer to Australia.

Nine different musical pieces take us on an ongoing journey through arrival in the new land, sharing feelings of excitement and expectation, disruption and uncertainty, and finally back full circle to a point that feels like resolution; the acceptance of life as a migrant – forever a stranger but who nevertheless finds a way to retain their Vietnamese soul.

This is all done with exquisite collaboration between musicians seeking their space to contribute to the mood of each piece. A range of electronic gadgetry complemented traditional instruments and neatly symbolised the integration of old and new experiences that migration entails.

This was an enchanting performance – deeply moving, ethereal, exotic, a wonderful blend of sounds that may or may not become music, but all of which express feeling.

It concludes with Nguyen back on the floor, plucking his zither, gently humming to himself………

This review also published on The Clothesline.

Destinations - Belle Chen

 

Her Majesty’s Theatre, Thu 21 Oct, 2021.

We have entered a world where one person, with the aid of musical technology, can sound like an ensemble. A solo performer, playing the role of technician as much as musician, can manipulate loops and sampled sounds of multiple different instruments with buttons, sliders and dials to create layers of sound of almost infinite variety.

In this work from Belle Chen, what looks like a grand piano – and occasionally sounds like one – but also functions as a synthesiser, organ, bell ringer, Theremin, and bass guitar. Add a layer of various sounds from nature (birds, water) and you have a luscious soundscape with many guises – soft and delicate, loud and dramatic, ambient and meditative – that feels very much like an exploration into the inner workings of the artist’s consciousness as they lead us through an unchartered path.

Chen’s touch on the piano is gorgeous. Her classical background was often in evidence but when her left hand keeps playing a gentle rhythm on the keys while the right hand adjusts the volume or unleashes the next effect that’s another thing altogether. At times she leans over the keys to hammer or pluck the strings under the lid, or uses the African kalimba to generate melodies and percussive patterns.

Projections that are displayed from floor to ceiling canvases either side of the artist and offer clues to Chen’s Destinations. Many of the images are abstract and allow the audience to build their own connections between image and sound, but other images of the natural world are intriguing and sometimes sadly poignant. I’d suggest that the visual impact of the projections may have been more impressive towards the back of the theatre.

Destinations is a performance of many textures; on offer was a multi-modal experience of contemplation and reflection; a celebration of the creative powers of an accomplished artist. Or one could just as easily close your eyes and simply listen to a bold composition that dares to be exploratory and expose the vulnerability of the artist and the creative process.

(This review also published in The Clothesline.)

OzAsia Festival - White Pearl

Sydney Theatre Company and Riverside’s National Theatre of Parramatta, Wed 20 Oct, 2021.

The set reveals a modern business office in Singapore. Lots of clean shiny straight lines and floor to ceiling windows. An advertisement for Clearday cosmetics loops continuously above the stage – just like the 24/7 screen assault one experiences wandering around modern Asian cities.

The five Clearday employees all hail from different parts of Asia and are over the moon at the success of their newest product. When a video that casts the company in a somewhat different light goes viral on social media the mood changes and they move into damage control. An electronic hit counter tracking the viral video ticks away ominously and relentlessly as cracks emerge in the social fabric of this young company.

Many of these cracks revolve around racism. Is it okay to trade in questionable cultural stereotypes for races that have a minimal presence in Asian countries? Can personal relationships overcome the negative intra-Asian cultural assumptions made about people from Japan, Taiwan or Korea? The dynamics of office politics and the power balance between genders are also put under the spotlight. A strong and even cast deliver an often sassy dialogue with a class and style that forces quieter personalities to conduct their conversations in other surprising locations outside the office.

Plenty of humour ensures the mood never stays too heavy for long – led by the local Singaporean employee (played by Cheryl Ho) who seems lost in an American rap style time warp. Kristy Best as Priya the Indian office boss is suitably commanding, while Nicole Milinkovic as a Thai American has a lot of fun (mostly) exploiting the Thai girl stereotype.

Provocative and confronting, White Pearl is an entertaining analysis of modern business ethics, cultural assumptions, and the role of social media in contemporary Asia and raises many important questions. But we may have to wait for a sequel to find the answers!

(This review also published in The Clothesline at https://theclothesline.com.au/white-pearl-ozasia-festival-2021-review/)