Photo - Heidrun Löhr and John SonesThe Arts House venue at North Melbourne Town Hall was packed for the opening night of William Yang’s ‘performance with image projection’ China. The audience was quiet, expectant and attentive as musician Nicholas Ng took his seat and then Yang made his modest entrance, to stand centre stage in front of two adjacent screens, angled towards each other. He spoke into the microphone with a slow, slightly theatrical quality (and an Aussie accent) that soon gave way to a more conversational tone as he took up the story of his journeys to China, starting in 1989, a few months after Tienenmin Square or the “June Incident”, as it is referred to in China.
The slides flashed by at first, two by two, but seemed to slow as time went on, each enriched by Yang’s commentary, which fleshed out the historical context, his own travelogue, the parts his various subjects played in it, and the personal journey back to his roots, to the country his grandparents left in the 1880s. Although the photos are taken in different decades, there is a consistency in Yang’s photographic style, in its realism, that gives a unity to the show.
The effect is simple, but riveting. It is the sharing of a personal travel story among friends, a show-and-tell performance with tremendous narrative and visual power. We, the audience, are invited to share the journey with Yang, meet his friends and guides along the way, hop on the bus with him, feast our eyes on his meals, doss down in the shabby apartments of his companions and wonder at the sacred mountains, temples and shrines.
Above all we are privy to his thoughts along the way, to his experience of being a foreigner who looked like a native Chinese, but did not speak the language, and of his desire, at times, to give up on the journey. As always in his life, the camera seems to have been his entrée into society, in this case the world of his ancestors, and this quiet man makes friends among the most outrageous, with the shots to prove it.
Yang’s demure demeanour is deceptive and he is at times outspoken, at others disarmingly wry and humourous about his life. He is not out to shock, and those looking for frank gay images will be disappointed. There are plenty of photos of the boys and young men that befriended him along the way, but they are photographed naturally and are, like all the images, just a captured moment in life.
These travel photos are taken in typical Yang style. They are not staged or manipulated, but are an exact reflection of life, both that of the narrator and that of a culture that is rapidly changing. The journey takes us from Beijing to Mongolia, along the Yellow River or up the Yellow Mountain, in the Banto steelworks or back momentarily in Yang’s tiny Sydney apartment. The vibrant colour of food or street scenes leaps out in contrast to washed-out images of sundrenched landscapes. After dozens of stills, the eyes are soothed by moving images of water plants, punctuating Yang’s deeper reflections on ‘coming home’. Ng’s tender bowing of the Chinese violin underline the gamut of emotions and provide a cultural echo to the images.
There are images and words that are especially touching with their forgotten associations: his exploration of calligraphy styles, the magical Taoism of earlier centuries, the delirious joy of climbing mountains, aspects of Chinese culture that still speak to Yang. We watch his discovery of his ‘second home’, already aware, as only an outsider could be, of the particular deference, wit and self-effacement that mark him out as of Chinese origin.
China is a soft, understated and enchanting performance, where technology is only used to facilitate the generation of images that are simple and realistic, accompanied by words that are above all honest, intimate and self-revealing. A deceptively simple performance that soothes with the satisfaction of a story well told.
Arts House in association with Melbourne International Arts Festival presents
China
William Yang
Venue: Arts House, North Melbourne Town Hall
Dates/Times: Wed 17 – Sat 20 Oct at 8pm; Sat 20 Oct at 4pm
Duration: 1hr no interval
Tickets: Full $28 / Conc $22
Bookings: Ticketmaster 1300 136 166 | www.melbournefestival.com.au
Easytix 03 9639 0096 | www.easytix.com.au/artshouse