The China Project

22 fundamental Chinese culture and thinking that had been present since classical times, i.e. a theme of the ancient vs. the modern; whereas the latter was a question of rebellion against, and triumph over, autocratic obstruction during this period of modernisation, i.e. Chinese vs. Western. The former was far ranging and profound and the latter pragmatic and uncompromising. The former was constructive; the latter destructive. 17 If Zhang uses personal iconography to understand the effects of history on the individual in a society that prioritises the collective, William Yang comes from a different cultural perspective and personal experience to explore similar issues of identity and family. In ‘William Yang: Life Lines’, an elaborate and expansive self-portrait emerges as he examines his extended family, the histories of his kin and how the places in which they live have been altered by their presence. He uses himself as the point from which to chart these stories and journeys. Yang has selected 18 photographs from the 1940s through to the present that capture the essence of who he is. All these images are of the artist or connect very directly to him in some way. They document Yang’s youth, growing up in Dimbulah on the Atherton Tableland in far north Queensland; his time at high school in Cairns and at university in Brisbane; his life in Sydney as an adult in the late 1960s; his work as an artist and performer; his friends and family; and his travels. These works reveal his interests: his interpretation and understanding of his cultural background as an Australian of Chinese heritage, his homosexuality, the importance of being an artist, the people in his life, and his journeys to China. A keen observer and commentator, Yang’s images are made richer by texts that he writes onto each photograph, providing personal insights and context. Added to these photographs is a range of objects, like keepsakes on a shelf in a home where family pictures sit cheek by jowl with seemingly unrelated things collected over time. In dialogue with these is a collage of images of Yang’s extended family, which encompasses four generations spread throughout the world. Like the ‘Bloodlines’ paintings by Zhang Xiaogang, these ties that link family are far-reaching and transcend borders. Zhang’s work contemplates the tensions of individual identity within a culture that is sustained by an ethos of the collective (and this includes historical Chinese family structures as well as the ideology of the ‘revolutionary family’ of communist China). The impact of globalism is the territory of Yang’s photographic record, where coming and going has shaped people and places in profound ways. The works by William Yang, Zhang Xiaogang and all the other artists represented in ‘The China Project’ speak directly to us, telling us about how we live in the world. History is, after all, our story, and it is this spirit of shared humanity that the combined exhibitions seek to encapsulate. William Yang /Australia b.1943 Katie, Los Angeles 2007 Digital image Bell, Atherton Joss House 1990 Digital image Images courtesy: The artist