BEHIND EVERY FACE
Published on 06 August 2018
Written for The Straits Times
A 1.8m-tall man dressed in a majestically embroidered traditional opera outfit walks out of Chinatown MRT. “Woah!”, a boy immediately exclaims.
The man’s eyes were painted black in contrast to the white base of his face make-up, leading onlookers to snap away on phone cameras.
Unperturbed, the 52-year-old designer Yang Derong, who runs his own creative consultancy company, cheekily waves his sword at the open space right in front of People’s Park Complex for people to snap more photos on a weekday afternoon in late June.
This act was part of his year-long passion project – Face Of The Day. 369 photos, 369 different faces, 369 different stories. Created on August 1 last year, Face Of The Day is a visual dialogue where each photo has a story or did-you-know fact that Mr Yang shares to get people to feel and think about.
This involves him dressing as characters ranging from Chang E to United States President Donald Trump to the last queen of France, Marie Antoinette. The opera outfit was to pay tribute to the ancient art form.
Everyone has a story to tell, if you take the time to listen,” says Mr Yang, who describes himself as a full-time flâneur – a French term for someone who wanders around observing society.
His inquisitive character, and penchant for eavesdropping on the bus, train or at coffee shops, have led him to discover stories and facts. These stories are translated into images, which he posts daily on his website, Instagram and Facebook – under the social media handle “faceofthedaysg”.
Mr Yang, a “new social media migrant” who started using social media just a year back, says Face Of The Day is only possible with his team, made up of around 30 friends - photographers, videographers, hair and make-up artists, a writer, web designer and digital team.
They gather whenever they are free to “jam”. Every session will produce six to 20 portraits, depending on the make-up, props and styling.
“Our kind of work is like cooking. There’s no confirm recipe... You just have to taste and add and find the magic – that’s what we’re trying to do”
