Eight works from Australian photographer Anna Zhu’s Yah Yah series (2008) have recently been added to the Library’s collection. 

Yah Yah tells the story of Zhu’s grandparents’ intimate closeness in a collection of understated, candid stills. The series explores the artist’s Chinese Australian heritage and the impact of her grandparents’ migration to Australia in 1998. 

The evocative images capture a relationship in a domestic setting and hint at broader themes of isolation and loneliness within migrant communities. 

Explore Yah Yah in Trove

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A woman helps her husband put on his winter hat
Anna Zhu, Devotion, Yah Yah, 2008 nla.obj-2988779894

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Hands are visible rifling through papers on a wooden counter
Anna Zhu, Diaries, Yah Yah, 2008, nla.obj-2988779974
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An elderly couple stand arm in arm outside a brick building
Anna Zhu, Home, Yah Yah, 2008, nla.obj-2988779738
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A man stands in a cluttered kitchen with broken cabinet doors
Anna Zhu, Making Do, Yah Yah, 2008, nla.obj-2988779818
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A man sits with an open book; a woman stands against a cabinet in the background
Anna Zhu, Memory, Yah Yah, 2008, nla.obj-2988780214
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A close-up of an elderly man looking directly into the camera
Anna Zhu, Strength, Yah Yah, 2008, nla.obj-2988780295
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A man stands outside a tall wooden fence in daylight
Anna Zhu, Winter, Yah Yah, 2008, nla.obj-2988780057
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Hands hold a small black and white photograph of a man up to the camera
Anna Zhu, Youth, Yah Yah, 2008, nla.obj-2988780134