Michael Jang (born 1951) is an American documentary photographer. Jang is best known for his 1970s photographs of life in Los Angeles and San Francisco,[1] with subjects ranging from his family to punk bands and street scenes.[2]
Early life
Jang was born in Marysville, California in 1951.[3][4] Jang studied at CalArts in Los Angeles, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1973.[5][6] Initially a design major, Jang switched to photography after being exposed to the work of Diane Arbus, Garry Winogrand and Lee Friedlander.[7] While at CalArts, Jang photographed the raunchiness of the student environment; in 2013 he published the photos in a book titled College.[8][9] During his time at CalArts he used fake press credentials to access events and parties at The Beverly Hilton hotel, where he was able to photograph a range of people from the unknown to famous musicians and politicians.[3][10][11]
Following art school, Jang continued to pursue creative projects while earning a living as a commercial photographer in San Francisco.[15] He was relatively unknown as an artist until 2002, when the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art acquired several of his photographs.[16] The subjects of his work are mainly vernacular and street photography.[17] His 1973 series The Jangs documents the assimilation of his Asian-American family.[18][19] His 1983 series Summer Weather documented auditioning weather reporters.[20]
In 2019 the McEvoy Foundation for the Arts staged a retrospective exhibition of his work.[17] The same year, Atelier Editions published a retrospective monograph of his work titled Who is Michael Jang?[3][21]
Publications
Far East of Suburbia. Michael Jang, n.d. OCLC993600565.
