Portrait of an artist: William Yang

Join us for our final Portrait of an artist event in 2022 featuring well-known artist William Yang in conversation with Rosie Hays from Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art.

William Yang is a renowned Australian photographer whose work straddles the boundary between social documentary and art. Since the late 1970s William has candidly portrayed artists and celebrities as well as families and friends, adding his own commentary to his photographs by way of handwritten text. Performance has also been central to his practice, with William delivering deeply moving monologues set against a changing backdrop of his photographs.

With a career spanning five decades, William’s work is held by state galleries as well as the National Gallery of Australia and the National Portrait Gallery. A large survey of William’s work featured at the Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art in 2020. The curator of this exhibition, Rosie Hays, joins William onstage at State Library to talk about his life, his practice and his career.

This final Portrait of an artist event for 2022 includes a screening of William Yang’s interview from the James C Sourris Collection of Artist Interviews and a discussion, followed by a Q&A session.

Portrait of an artist events focus on the artists featured in the James C Sourris Collection of artist interviews.