Beninese artist Romuald Hazoumè’s masks are humorous, playful and political — constructed from recycled waste — he began making the mask series in Benin in the mid 1980s. Hazoumè’s ‘recycling’ refers to the inequitable history of exchange between Africa and Europe. Cultural artefacts such as masks were taken during the 20th-century artistic avant-gardes’ obsession with…
Continue reading » “Contemporary African masks create a subversive loop”
Australian photographer William Yang is a storyteller. Yang began telling the stories behind his photographs in the 1980s. What began as a slide night, showing transparencies of his work for friends became a highly developed storytelling style. Yang’s monologue performances have become a signature part of his practice. For the exhibition ‘William Yang: Seeing and…
If you know the work of Australian photographer William Yang, it’s usually his photographs of people and communities that you will be familiar with. Yang captures joyous, confessional and deeply human stories that are heartfelt and intimate in many of his portraits, often writing the narrative about his subject or the moment captured on film…
William Yang, like many of his fellow Australian photographers, cannot help but be fascinated with the beach. In 1969, Yang left Brisbane for the bright lights of Sydney, and he fell in love with the city. At a distance from his family and Queensland’s conservatism, Sydney provided an opportunity for reinvention. It was here that…
While a student at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, William Yang wrote and directed theatre productions and began taking photographs. He started photographing architecture, and then turned his camera to people, which is when he found his true passion. In order to make a living as a photographer, Yang began his career taking candid…
Continue reading » “William Yang: Celebrity and portraiture”
‘William Yang: Seeing and Being Seen’ spans Queensland-born photographer and performance artist William Yang’s five-decade career and is the first major survey of his work to be presented by an Australian state gallery. ‘Seeing and Being Seen’ refers to the artist’s view of the world through the camera lens. Yang captures people across all walks…
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