William Yang, well-known for his work which documents the Sydney LGBTIQ+ community from the 1970s onwards, will deliver a presentation full of humour and compassion, giving his personal account of Mardi Gras and exuberant stories of gay life and culture in the Sydney scene.

This event offers a rare opportunity to meet the photographer and to dine in Bookplate after-hours.

William Yang, Self portrait with light meter, 1987, nla.obj-326461920

About the William Yang's Mardi Gras exhibition

The exhibition displays 23 photographs including Friends of Dorothy and Sadness, as well as one of David McDiarmid's Mardi Gras posters and a portrait of William Yang by Robert McFarlane.

Focusing on William Yang's photographs of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras to tell its story, from its roots in the protests of the gay liberation movement, to the celebration of queer life that we know today. The display moves between themes of protest, community, the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and the artistic direction of the parades under Peter Tully and David McDiarmid.