Joshua Yong is a young emerging artist from Melbourne who is exploring the medium of digital art. He experiments with various brushes on the app Procreate to create semi-realistic, identical-like drawings of faces. His work predominantly focuses on drawing and painting and is influenced by his love and obsession with the face and portraiture.
Joshua's work also explores the art form of drag performance, transforming himself into his drag persona, Kitana Li. He is hugely interested in makeup and its power to alter human identity, expression, and aesthetic. His persona aims to connect his historical roots as an Australian born Chinese, with performance and links to Asian culture.
Joshua studied and completed Visual Arts and Design at Australian Catholic University. He is passionate about visitor experience, customer service, and artist-run workshops. Joshua is particularly interested in the management, and documentation of exhibitions, and public programs in arts-based organisations.
His style merges figurative and pop art to create imagery that portrays themes of drag, makeup artistry, contemporary art, and pop culture. His work is cemented and influenced by his queerness and lived experiences.
Joshua's work is heavily influenced by his lived experiences as a second-generation Chinese-Australian, born and raised in the south-east region of Melbourne.
His journey in celebrating and accepting his queer identity continually shapes his art practice. Joshua’s work excites dialogue surrounding queer subject matter and provides a diverse reimagining of expression, identity, and culture in contemporary media and contexts.