Preview
SHADOWS
Created and performed by William Yang
Music composed and performed by Colin Offord
January 18 to 22
Engineered Air Theatre (CPA)
High Performance Rodeo
If anyone knows the true meaning of the term "diaspora," it has to be Australia’s most exported performance artist, William Yang.
"Diaspora – the scattering of races," Yang says. "It’s most often referred to for the Jewish race, but can apply to all races. And in Chinese history, the migration of Chinese (was) mainly to South East Asia and California (and) Australia."
A third-generation Chinese-Australian from North Queensland, Yang has been exploring themes of his own family’s heritage for years with successes like Blood Links, The North and Sadness (which was made into an award-winning film). A photographer, playwright and performer, Yang started creating multi-disciplinary work in the early ’70s, and has been combining slides with his monologues since 1989. His 2000 creation Friends of Dorothy was about his other family – the gay community.
"As a gay man, I guess I am somewhat political," Yang says. "My work is principally entertainment, although there are some political issues behind it."
Yang’s eighth full-length piece, Shadows, is a huge departure from his previous works. For starters, it’s not autobiographical. It’s also the first time the artist has been commissioned to create new work.
"It’s still a personal story," says Yang. "It started out with the theme of reconciliation, and grew from there."
Creating commissioned work was a journey in itself. When the Sydney Festival first asked Yang to create a project on Aboriginal children, he set out to do research in Enngonia, New South Wales, a past backdrop for his photography. Then the Adelaide Festival asked Yang for a piece exploring cultural reconciliation. Yang saw a common thread, and his producer negotiated to have both festivals commission the same piece. Now, Australia’s Perth Festival has also jumped in as a third co-commissioner.
"The most obvious story to work with was the Aboriginal community," says Yang. "But we were also thinking of a story for South Australia, and there was a strong suggestion about Germans."
Choosing Berlin for his "other" research, Yang quickly discovered difficulties re-hashing a dark period like the Second World War, when many Germans were either interned in or exiled from Australia.
"South Australia was probably the most British (part) of Australia, and was the only state that didn’t have convicts," Yang says. "But it also has a very colonial history. The story is a bit of a history lesson that way."
Yang’s other subject – the Aboriginals of Enngonia – reflects another distinct, disparate community, and one that migrated from Yang’s native Queensland.
"The group that I was with don’t live a traditional life, and live off welfare," Yang observes. "I noticed that they really don’t have any place in society. They started on the homesteads, and migrated in the ’60s when equal wages came in. Australia’s Labour government built houses for this community, and there was an attempt to give them skills through arts and crafts, but this didn’t happen, partly because of administration and budget cuts in the ’90s. It’s a difficult social situation, and unresolved."
Yang’s descriptions are often an echo of our Canadian landscape, which is perhaps one reason why he is so drawn to performing here. In Shadows, Yang uses hundreds of slides, on six or seven projectors, to capture both of these communities’ marginalized histories. He is excited to perform with musician Colin Offord, who worked with Yang on The North. Offord’s haunting score is created with raw, original instruments like the "Great Island Mouth Bow," an Australian device that adds resonance and harmonics to the work.
"It is hard to find a composer like Offord (who) can create the feeling of the landscape without being cliché," Yang says. "And there are many landscapes in the piece."
Hopefully, there are also many more landscapes for Yang to explore. |
