Name: Major Zhang
Age: 20
How do you know Margaret? I’m not really sure, I’ve just run into her from time to time over the last 20 years, and now it’s way too awkward to ask what she’s doing in my house.
What do you call each other? Mostly, “Hey you.” Sometimes, “Oi”.
What does friendship mean to you? If facepalms and cringes aren’t involved, it isn’t friendship.
Who would you like to be friends with more than anyone else? Goku, who else?
What do you and your friends like to do together? Stand around awkwardly at the gym trying to pretend we know what we’re doing.
Name: Jessica Gomes/Gomesy
Age: 31
Profession: Artist/model/actress
How do you know Margaret? I first met her in Melbourne at fashion week when she shot me for David Jones, after she wrote the most amazingly lovely article about me. I thought, wow this girl is a genius!
What do you call each other? Asian sisters. The Asian persuasions.
What does friendship mean to you? Loyalty, support, encouragement and bringing out the best in each other. It means commitment and trust and love.
Who would you like to be friends with more than anyone else? Jimmy Fallon!
What do you and your friends like to do together? We sit in bed, chat, and send each other emojis. My friends are everything to me, I love them so much. They make me laugh, push me to be the best I can be, pick me up when I’m down, and have my back. They tell you what’s real.
Names: Matt Lennon and Dion Lee
Age: 30
Profession: Brand manager and fashion designer.
How do you know Margaret?
Matt: We met over breakfast with mutual friends, it was love at first bite.
Dion: We met once upon a professional encounter and things got unprofessional.
What do you call each other? Dream roomies, Zhangy.
What does friendship mean to you?
Matt: Positive energy and no filter.
Dion: A sounding board, collaboration, trust.
Who would you like to be friends with more than anyone else?
Matt: Tilda Swinton!
Dion: James Turrell, I want to visit his volcano.
What do you and your friends like to do together? Explore the world, swim, hike, cook food, drink wine, sing karaoke and make each other LOL.
Name: Donald Robertson
Age: 53
Profession: Creative director/artist
How do you know Margaret? She did a shoot in my studio.
What do you call each other? Given names.
What does friendship mean to you? The world is getting smaller.
Who would you like to be friends with more than anyone else? Thanks to social media I am now friends with everyone I wanted to be! Even the celebs.
What do you and your friends like to do together? We like to get together, sit really close and stare at our phones.
Name: Samantha Bennetts
Age: 22
Profession: Producer
How do you know Margaret? We met in high school.
What do you call each other? I call her Marg, she calls me Sams.
What does friendship mean to you? Loyalty. Being able to sit in silence and it not be awkward. Hating the same things. And nothing being too embarrassing to admit.
Who would you like to be friends with more than anyone else? Joan Didion, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Alice B Toklas and Scott Fitzgerald à la Midnight in Paris.
What do you and your friends like to do together? Eat. Mostly dumplings, interesting vegan food and various kinds of cheese, but we don’t like to discriminate.
Name? Greg Chait
Age? 37
Profession? Founder of The Elder Statesman.
How do you know Margaret? I met Margaret at the New York Public Library.
What do you call each other? Psycho.
What does friendship mean to you? In life’s order of importance, friendship comes second only to family.
Who would you like to be friends with more than anyone else? Winston Churchill.
What do you and your friends like to do together? That feels like a trick question.
Name: Leo Gordon
Age: 23
Profession: Honours student
How do you know Margaret? We met in a University class and live near each other in Coogee.
What do you call each other? She calls me LG, which no one else really does. I call her Margaret or, if I’m really strapped for time, Marg.
What does friendship mean to you? Friendship is a mutual understanding based on honesty and emotional exchange. The ebs and flows of friendship make life interesting and ultimately worthwhile.
Who would you like to be friends with more than anyone else? David Attenborough or Abbi and Ilana from Broad City.
What do you and your friends like to do together? A healthy mix of camping and dance music.
Names: Vicki Lee and Ted O’Donnell
Age: 34
Profession: Artists
How do you know Margaret? She came to our second exhibition called “Asphyxiate”. We hit it off.
What do you call each other? We call her Zhangers. She calls me Chicklet.
What does friendship mean to you? Friendship is the family you choose to love.
Who would you like to be friends with more than anyone else? From the past Jimi Hendrix and from now Aung San Suu Kyi.
What do you and your friends like to do together? Cook, eat, prepare, drink and sing over the whole process.
Name: Christopher Masters
Age: 23
Profession: Criminologist
How do you know Margaret? We met during one of our first classes at law school. She guessed that I was half-Asian (which is rare) and I guessed that her boyfriend (back then) was a dick. We were both right, so we became friends.
What do you call each other? Margaret calls me Darling, Babe, and basically every possible synonym that exists for them in the English language. I swear she does the same for most inanimate objects she encounters. I call her Maggie.
What does friendship mean to you? For us, making sure her head doesn’t get too big. I’m good for that. But she’s a sweetheart and kind of like a sister to me, so conversations about boys are invariably deflected.
Who would you like to be friends with more than anyone else? I was really hoping you would ask this! Ahem, Margaret’s brother.
What do you and your friends like to do together? With Margaret I just try and get in the way of photographs of her food.
Name: Alison Kubler
Age: 42
Profession: Writer and curator
How do you know Margaret? We met through mutual friends in New York last Christmas. We were in each others pockets for three weeks, and now we’re besties. Our three children adore Margaret. Kids, like animals, are very good judges of character.
What do you call each other? Marg, but we also like to call her Margaret in the accent from Little Britain.
What does friendship mean to you? You should challenge one another, but also know when to be supportive. You can choose friends, so you have to chose well because it’s very bad to lose them. Marg is just a wonderful girl. She’s all about family and friends and she puts that before all else.
Who would you like to be friends with more than anyone else? I can’t imagine. Mostly I marvel that my friends like me, that they chose me. I’m blessed.
What do you and your friends like to do together? Wear great clothes, eat good food and wine, travel the world. At the same time a good friend is one you can wear your give-ups around. While you eat good food. In New York.
Name: Jayne Min
Age: 36
Profession: Freelance creative director and stylist.
How do you know Margaret? We met during NYFW years ago, I think at a show.
What do you call each other? Marg and Jayne, pretty straightforward. I sometimes call her Baby because she’s like a little sister. A very mature, accomplished little sister.
What does friendship mean to you? Loyalty, respect, understanding the other person’s personality, and healthy communication.
Who would you like to be friends with more than anyone else? I like being friends with women who juggle family and work life well. And people who creatively inspire me to work harder and be better.
What do you and your friends like to do together? There was an article last year about how people over thirty tend to have more practical, errand-based hang outs as their lives usually prioritise family and work. I find that to be so true. My closest friends and I usually make dates to work out, take a class, or even grocery shop. There’s a mutual understanding of time and I think we appreciate that we can have fun together while still getting shit done.
Name: Imogen Richards
Age: 23
Profession: Psych Masters and PhD student.
How do you know Margaret? Short version: through uni. Although, the longer story of our serendipitous sunset introduction at the Pyramide du Louvre is far more romantic.
What do you call each other? Margaret is Maggi/Maggot. I’m Imi/Imz. We’re both Squishie.
What does friendship mean to you? Safety. The extra siblings you choose for yourself.
Who would you like to be friends with more than anyone else? Stephen Fry or Brené Brown.
What do you and your friends like to do together? Laugh at each others’ misfortunes, over analyse everything on the phone while driving. Drink and yell at each other. Then recap it all over breakfast.
Credits
Photography Margaret Zhang