WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.583 (bright music) 2 00:00:04.890 --> 00:00:07.890 line:15% I had to come to terms with being Chinese, 3 00:00:07.890 --> 00:00:12.890 line:15% being gay, and just feeling comfortable as a human being. 4 00:00:15.990 --> 00:00:18.900 There are lots of people who aren't comfortable 5 00:00:18.900 --> 00:00:21.210 about that, still. 6 00:00:21.210 --> 00:00:26.210 And so I try to be an example of being yourself 7 00:00:27.720 --> 00:00:29.280 and being visible. 8 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:31.251 That's been my philosophy. 9 00:00:31.251 --> 00:00:34.751 (gentle orchestral music) 10 00:00:36.390 --> 00:00:38.880 line:15% I never consciously came out as a gay man, 11 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:41.850 line:15% I was swept out by events at the time. 12 00:00:41.850 --> 00:00:45.428 And that was exactly what happened to me in the 70s. 13 00:00:45.428 --> 00:00:48.660 I was in the closet when I was in Brisbane, 14 00:00:48.660 --> 00:00:52.290 I came to Sydney in 1969. 15 00:00:52.290 --> 00:00:56.040 People were starting to come out in the early 70s, 16 00:00:56.040 --> 00:00:59.670 and suddenly there was this whole connection 17 00:00:59.670 --> 00:01:02.280 of gay people with each other, and it was 18 00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:04.320 really quite exciting. 19 00:01:04.320 --> 00:01:09.063 I also then became a photographer in Sydney as well. 20 00:01:12.390 --> 00:01:15.090 Generally, my style of photography is I'm just 21 00:01:15.090 --> 00:01:19.980 photographing what's around me in my everyday life. 22 00:01:21.090 --> 00:01:25.950 At the time, I was living at Martin Sharp's mansion 23 00:01:25.950 --> 00:01:30.950 in Bellevue Hill and Peter Allen came to visit him. 24 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:36.300 Peter was in town and he'd heard that this was 25 00:01:36.300 --> 00:01:37.950 a place that he should visit. 26 00:01:37.950 --> 00:01:40.260 He'd never met Martin before. 27 00:01:40.260 --> 00:01:43.623 And so he just came, to visit. 28 00:01:45.240 --> 00:01:50.240 I'd met Peter a few times before, just around the traps. 29 00:01:50.340 --> 00:01:52.260 I wouldn't say I got to know him well, 30 00:01:52.260 --> 00:01:54.933 but well enough to get that snap of him. 31 00:01:55.950 --> 00:02:00.810 So I was brushing shoulders with celebrities at that time. 32 00:02:02.516 --> 00:02:06.153 And I met Mel Gibson at one of the parties. 33 00:02:06.990 --> 00:02:11.990 And he asked me if I'd take a photograph of him 34 00:02:12.480 --> 00:02:15.603 because he needed a card. 35 00:02:17.190 --> 00:02:22.147 His parents, they used to answer all his fan mail 36 00:02:22.147 --> 00:02:25.410 (laughing) and they needed a card 37 00:02:25.410 --> 00:02:29.460 to say "best wishes from Mel" or something, 38 00:02:29.460 --> 00:02:30.570 and answer their question. 39 00:02:30.570 --> 00:02:32.910 So he got me to do it. 40 00:02:32.910 --> 00:02:36.183 And so that's how I took those photographs of Mel. 41 00:02:38.670 --> 00:02:42.240 Patrick White never wanted to be interviewed, 42 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:44.493 he never wanted to be photographed. 43 00:02:45.540 --> 00:02:48.900 But in this particular case, with the portrait 44 00:02:48.900 --> 00:02:53.490 that's in the gallery, Brett Whitely wanted to 45 00:02:53.490 --> 00:02:56.673 paint his portrait, I think for the Archibald. 46 00:02:58.103 --> 00:03:02.370 And Brett asked me, if I could photograph him 47 00:03:02.370 --> 00:03:04.983 so he could get a set of photographs of him. 48 00:03:06.030 --> 00:03:08.280 There was a rumour going around that I was the 49 00:03:08.280 --> 00:03:12.480 only person who Patrick would allow to photograph him, 50 00:03:12.480 --> 00:03:14.070 which wasn't true. 51 00:03:14.070 --> 00:03:16.830 But anyway, I never ever quashed the rumour, 52 00:03:16.830 --> 00:03:19.140 'cuz it was all to my advantage. 53 00:03:19.140 --> 00:03:21.720 And so I took a very good set of photographs 54 00:03:21.720 --> 00:03:26.040 for Brett, and they were taken at Kate Fitzpatrick's place 55 00:03:26.040 --> 00:03:29.370 in Kings Cross, where she had a lunch to introduce 56 00:03:29.370 --> 00:03:30.663 Patrick to Brett. 57 00:03:35.130 --> 00:03:38.580 Probably the 80s was my most productive time 58 00:03:38.580 --> 00:03:42.810 and all those photographs came out, because I was 59 00:03:42.810 --> 00:03:45.960 brushing shoulders with celebrities. 60 00:03:45.960 --> 00:03:50.960 But after that period, say at the end of the 80s, 61 00:03:51.030 --> 00:03:54.750 I started to do self-portraits. 62 00:03:54.750 --> 00:03:59.400 I suppose it's was the evolution of my own story 63 00:03:59.400 --> 00:04:02.400 when I kind of claim my own story. 64 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:06.540 And the very first self-portrait was me 65 00:04:06.540 --> 00:04:11.160 standing in the cane fields, in the place where my uncle had 66 00:04:11.160 --> 00:04:15.120 been shot, William Fang Yuen, had been shot and 67 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:18.810 I'd located that in my research of the event 68 00:04:18.810 --> 00:04:20.130 and I found the place. 69 00:04:20.130 --> 00:04:23.490 So I stood there in the cane fields and 70 00:04:23.490 --> 00:04:27.360 I somehow knew that this was an important event, 71 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:32.360 because the past and the present had somehow come together 72 00:04:32.670 --> 00:04:36.630 in this event, which happened 72 years ago. 73 00:04:36.630 --> 00:04:40.263 But here I was, kind of retelling the story. 74 00:04:41.160 --> 00:04:45.570 And that was a very important thing, moment in my life. 75 00:04:45.570 --> 00:04:46.653 So I did that. 76 00:04:48.390 --> 00:04:52.410 One of the first ones in this cluster that I've got 77 00:04:52.410 --> 00:04:56.820 is called "Self Portrait #2" it came after the one of 78 00:04:56.820 --> 00:04:58.563 standing in the cane fields. 79 00:05:00.100 --> 00:05:02.790 But when I was about six years old, I'll tell you this story 80 00:05:02.790 --> 00:05:06.900 because almost in every interview I've ever done 81 00:05:06.900 --> 00:05:09.573 I've always told this story. 82 00:05:09.573 --> 00:05:13.147 It's become as John McDonald, the critic said, 83 00:05:13.147 --> 00:05:16.047 "It's become my incantation." 84 00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:20.130 When I was six years old, one of the kids at school 85 00:05:20.130 --> 00:05:24.277 called me "Ching Chong Chinaman, born in a jar, 86 00:05:24.277 --> 00:05:27.717 christened in a teapot. Ha, ha, ha." 87 00:05:28.740 --> 00:05:32.880 I had no idea what he was talking about, although I knew 88 00:05:32.880 --> 00:05:36.480 from his expression he was being horrible to me. 89 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:40.027 So I went home to my mother and I said to her, 90 00:05:40.027 --> 00:05:43.290 "Mom, I'm not Chinese, am I?" 91 00:05:43.290 --> 00:05:46.767 And she said, "Yes, you are." 92 00:05:48.060 --> 00:05:51.210 Her tone was hard, and it shocked me. 93 00:05:51.210 --> 00:05:53.910 And I knew in that moment, that being Chinese was 94 00:05:53.910 --> 00:05:56.340 like a terrible curse. 95 00:05:56.340 --> 00:05:59.700 And I could not rely on my mother for help. 96 00:05:59.700 --> 00:06:03.420 Or my brother, who was four years older than me, 97 00:06:03.420 --> 00:06:06.630 very much more experienced in the world. 98 00:06:06.630 --> 00:06:10.167 he chimed in, "And you'd better get used to it." 99 00:06:13.230 --> 00:06:18.230 I claim my heritage in the 80s, because the Chinese part 100 00:06:18.930 --> 00:06:22.713 of me was always denied and unacknowledged. 101 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:27.960 I'm very happy that that has happened because 102 00:06:27.960 --> 00:06:32.520 my life and my art have kind of joined together. 103 00:06:32.520 --> 00:06:37.520 And so, I feel that I'm living my art as well as my life. 104 00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:40.413 And so that's very satisfying for me. 105 00:06:41.460 --> 00:06:45.720 Then I'd done performance pieces, telling the personal story 106 00:06:45.720 --> 00:06:49.653 and realising that many of the images had stories. 107 00:06:50.760 --> 00:06:53.670 I realised that the handwriting makes 108 00:06:53.670 --> 00:06:56.160 my work more unique. 109 00:06:56.160 --> 00:06:59.310 - my very handwriting. 110 00:06:59.310 --> 00:07:03.190 And so I've chosen more recently 111 00:07:04.080 --> 00:07:08.430 photographs that have got a story, which I can write on. 112 00:07:08.430 --> 00:07:13.410 And so that's usually a bit of a preference for me 113 00:07:13.410 --> 00:07:15.243 when choosing a photograph. 114 00:07:16.254 --> 00:07:18.837 line:15% (gentle music)