Step inside Hang Yu's wonderfully strange world of clowns, costumes and constructed identities

Imagine being handed a hat, told to improvise on stage, then sent backstage to pick out a clown nose before doing the whole thing again. That's exactly what happened on the first day of Coney Island Clown Skool, where New York-based photographer Hang Yu found herself waiting in the wings, camera in hand, as a group of aspiring clowns prepared to become their new selves.

The resulting photograph, a collection of clown noses waiting to be chosen, is one of Hang's favourites from The Show Goes On, an ongoing project documenting the wonderfully peculiar world of clowning. "To me, this photograph is full of possibility and hope," she says. "Nothing had been decided yet, and everything was still up in the air. It's almost like the beginning of a choose-your-own adventure story."

It's a fitting introduction to Hang's practice, which has long been concerned with the ways we construct our identities, the communities we find ourselves in, and the role we play within them. Born and raised in China, she moved to the US at 17 to study art, first in Chicago and later in New York, where she's now based as a freelance photographer and artist.

Her interest in photography began during her teenage years in Beijing, when she was living independently and spending her time exploring exhibitions, underground clubs and live music venues. She also began modelling for the late Chinese photographer Ren Hang, whose work she deeply admires, before picking up a 35mm camera herself. "Photography has stayed with me ever since," she recalls. "It accompanied me through many lonely moments and, at the same time, became a way of leading me into a much bigger, unfamiliar world that I was eager to explore."

These days, much of her inspiration comes from wandering the streets of New York, often without a destination in mind. She's particularly interested in the city's eclectic characters, from immigrant street vendors to amusement park performers, and the uniforms they wear. "There's something fascinating about how a uniform can label a person while also revealing their relationship to something larger than themselves, whether that's a profession, a community, a political structure or society at large."

It's easy to see how this curiosity led her to Coney Island, where she joined Clown Skool as its resident photographer. The project has since become something of a collaboration, with Hang spending time getting to know the students, photographing their performances and following their lives beyond the classroom.

One particularly lovely image, Me by Velvet, came about when a fellow clown named Velvet asked to photograph Hang herself. After a quick camera lesson, the pair swapped roles, with Hang stepping in front of the lens in her clown persona. "What I love about this photograph is that you can see both of us in it. I'm the clown, and she's the photographer," Hang explains. "To me, it's a very personal record of our friendship, but also of the possibilities of constructing and exchanging identities."

There's a marvellous sense of play running throughout the series, with the exaggerated gestures, theatrical costumes and strange little rituals of clowning offering plenty of opportunities for Hang to explore her interest in performance. And with her intuitive, immersive process, her photographs also capture the friendships and shared experiences that develop when people are given the freedom to invent themselves. Rather than arriving with a fixed idea of what she wants to photograph, Hang spends time within a community, allowing relationships and conversations to shape the work. "Gradually, a certain sentiment starts to emerge, something that feels both deeply personal and universal," she says. "I spend time with them, interview them, photograph them and try to understand their lives from within while finding connections between us."

It's an approach informed by a varied collection of influences, from the films of Jia Zhangke, Lou Ye and Alejandro Jodorowsky to the work of Nikki S. Lee, Sophie Calle and Diane Arbus. Growing up between different cities and cultures has also made Hang particularly attentive to people who exist on the margins of society, and to the often absurd expectations that shape how we behave. "I think there's always a mixture of critique and care in my work," she says. "I hope people can look critically at the realities we live in, but also find something they can relate to emotionally."

With another session of Coney Island Clown Skool beginning in November, Hang is preparing to return for the next chapter of The Show Goes On. She's also been following several of the clowns into their everyday lives, gathering photographs and interviews for a forthcoming photobook. And while clowning might seem an unlikely place to search for answers to life's biggest questions, perhaps that's precisely the appeal. After all, there's something rather reassuring about a room full of people trying on different noses and figuring out who they'd like to be. "At its core, I think my work is concerned with how we create a sense of existence and meaning in an increasingly turbulent world," Hang says. "Ultimately, I hope my work can offer people a little humour, hope and the courage to construct their own illusions."