Photographer William Yang is reflecting on his six-decade career, which includes documenting the Australian LGBTQ+ community and uncovering his family's hidden history of murder.
Key facts
- •William Yang has taken between 500,000 and 1 million photographs since the late 1960s.
- •The State Library of New South Wales has acquired approximately 50,000 of Yang’s negatives from the 1970s.
- •Yang’s uncle was killed in 1922, and the subsequent acquittal of his employee is documented in Yang's 'My Uncle’s Murder' series.
- •A portrait of Yang by Kean Onn See was nominated for the 2026 Archibald prize.
- •Yang describes his career as fulfilling his destiny, noting he feels satisfied with his life's work.
Photographer William Yang, 82, is currently featured in the exhibition 'Inside the Mirage' at the TarraWarra Museum of Art. His work explores both his personal history, including the 1922 murder of his uncle in Queensland, and his long-term documentation of Sydney’s LGBTQ+ community. Yang has spent decades archiving his extensive collection of photographs, which capture significant cultural shifts in Australia from the 1960s to the present.
Uncovering a Family Mystery
In 1990, Yang traveled to Innisfail to investigate the death of his uncle, William Fang Yuen. While family members provided conflicting accounts of the incident, Yang discovered court documents confirming his uncle was shot dead by an employee following an argument over farm accounts. The employee was acquitted in a trial that many viewed as a miscarriage of justice due to racial bias against the Chinese victim.
Documenting LGBTQ+ History
Since moving to Sydney in the late 1960s, Yang has captured the evolution of the city's LGBTQ+ community, including the HIV/AIDS crisis and the 2017 legalization of gay marriage. He believes his work in the margins of society provides significant value. While he notes that social media and changing political climates have altered the environment for photography, he remains focused on digitizing his archive of hundreds of thousands of negatives.
Timeline
- 1922William Yang's uncle, William Fang Yuen, is killed on a farm in Queensland.
- Late 1960sWilliam Yang moves to Sydney and begins his career as a photographer.
- 1990Yang travels to Innisfail to research the circumstances of his uncle's death.
- 2017Australia legalizes gay marriage following a national plebiscite.
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This article was independently rewritten by ManyPress editorial AI from reporting originally published by The Guardian Culture.
