This record is the script for a monologue titled Sadness, written by the Australian photographer and artist William Yang.

Sadness explores Yang’s life experiences and tells stories of Australians from diverse backgrounds, including friends of the artist.

William Yang was born in Queensland in 1943. He is well known for documenting Sydney’s gay community in the 1970s and 80s through his award-winning photography.

This work, Sadness, is held by the National Archives because it was submitted to the Australian Government as part of a grant application. In Australia, artists can apply to the government to receive grants (funding) to help them produce new work. The process is competitive and not all applications receive funding.

William Yang was awarded the grant he applied for, enabling Sadness to be developed into a spoken-word monologue that was performed with slide projections and music.

The extract shown here features the first five pages of the monologue. It includes some of the photographs that Yang planned to project on stage while he performed the script aloud.

Sadness was first performed in 1992 and has seen several reprisals since then, including a feature film in 1999.

William Yang's work explores identity and emotion through his experiences as a Chinese-Australian and a gay man. His body of work was pioneering for its time, and today it continues to invite others to explore their own identity.

Benjamin Law, an Australian writer and broadcaster, has said that 'William Yang's work makes me feel seen, and reminds me that I exist.'