Shy and introverted as a child, Kaz Leong was given a camera when she was 10 and it changed her entire outlook on life, as Justin Flynn reports.
Born in Ballarat and growing up in Buninyong, a country childhood did little for Kaz’s confidence.
“I had a country childhood, a little bit lonely – the camera allowed me to meet people,” she says.
A career in nursing then forced Kaz to put herself out there and with her camera, she began a journey to and from Malaysia that would change her life.
“Six years ago, when I was 51, there was an art residency that came up in Penang (Malaysia),” she says.
“I took three months long-service leave and I thought I would be lonely and scared, but no not at all. It was just amazing. It was the best time of my life. I literally discovered myself.”
Kaz took to Malaysia so much that she started taking photos of people on the streets.
“An overwhelming amount of people would say ‘yes’ when I asked them if I could take their photograph,” she says.
“I printed them and gave them out. So I gave about 450 to 500 photos out to the people of Penang and they looked after me.
“I could walk the streets and they would toot their horns and wave, give me drinks and cans of beer, even though I don’t drink beer.”
Kaz put her nursing skills to use and volunteered for hospice and also took pictures of her patients who were being cared for.
“I printed the photos and sent them the photos immediately,” she says.
“One lady had a brain tumor and I expected her to be unconscious, but she was in a bed in her front room in a tiny apartment. It was dark and a housing commission.
“But she was conscious and alert and we did the nursing part of it and then did the family portraits. She got her photos a few days later and she cried, went into a coma the following day and died a few days later.
“The images for hospice were so powerful but so beautiful. She was glad that someone had done that for her and her family.”
Kaz says it’s sometimes a juggling act dealing with the emotion of hospice and making sure the patient and photo subject is treated with dignity and respect.
“All of my work is gratis, so I don’t take any money,” she says.
“I’m always very conscious of the fact that it needs to be done respectfully and with permission from all involved.”
Kaz has also done a solo exhibition in Malaysia called ‘Caring Matters’.
“I photographed people in a family situation, like caring for people in their family with all different types of illnesses,” she says.
“The opening was upstairs at the cafe and it was quiet and I thought to myself ‘wow, this is too powerful’. And as I walked down the stairs they all stopped in the cafe and I got a standing ovation.”
Back home in St Leonards, where Kaz and Malaysian husband have lived for the past eight months, Kaz has been working on a project called ‘Still Beautiful Bellarine’, an exhibition showing that women over the age of 50 are still very much beautiful.
“Women of my age are a bit shy and are not sure,” Kaz says.
“They hold back. I just ask them to trust me and they get a surprise. Don’t forget to tell your mum or your aunty or anyone that you’ve got that they are still beautiful to you.
“My mum died when I was 24. As a 24-year-old you think you know the world and you say ‘Mum, don’t ring me all the time’ but I’d give anything for her to be with me.”
Kaz’s advice to her 10-year-old self or other young girls in the same lonely situation she found herself in is simple.
“I’d tell them to find their passion and run with it,” she says.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s something small. If you get joy out of it and can inspire others by doing it and set an example, just do it.”
And what makes a good photographer of people?
“I definitely learned how to see it all with nursing,” she says.
“My daughter did gymnastics and I judged gymnastics, so when I take photos it’s about emotion, but it’s also a contrast of light, shade and movement.
“By judging gymnastics for eight years and also as a nurse, you’re a trained observer.”
Kaz plans to get back to Malaysia as soon as she can.
“The people have a real generosity of spirit,” she says.
“They will give you anything. I’ll walk past a lady who is fixing shoes on the side of a six-lane road in the heat and I’ll go and get her a bottle of water and bring it to her because they would do the same for me.
“You never fall over in Malaysia and just be left. Someone would help. They are very generous.”
