For 50 years, San Francisco based artist Michael Jang has been sitting on a hidden body of photographs taken when he was in his 20s. Although Jang built a career as a commercial and portrait photographer, many of his underground snapshots infiltrating and observing communities and subcultures has gotten little notice. Then in 2021, at the age of 70, Jang set out to share his work with the world.
Who is Michael Jang? delves into the extraordinary life and work of an elusive artist at a flashpoint in his career. Chronicling Jang’s new work in the streets, along with interviews from Jang, his family, curators and collaborators, the documentary traces the trajectory of Jang’s career while simultaneously exploring his family history and personal identity.
Who is Michael Jang? will premiere in May 2025 as part of ITVS’ Independent Lens program.
Speakers
Artist
Michael Jang
Michael Jang’s is a unique story. For the last forty years, he has earned a living as a portrait photographer, capturing iconic figures such as Jimi Hendrix, Robin Williams, and William Burroughs, among others. However, this unassuming Asian-American photographer has also been simultaneously infiltrating and documenting a number of groups and subcultures from all strata of society: from celebrity parties in Beverly Hills to the youth of Castro’s Cuba, from South City gangs to Old West rodeos, and from the punk rock scene of the late 70s to the teenage garage bands of early 2000s San Francisco. His images are allegories of particular points in time, characterized by their candid honesty, decisiveness, and vivacity. SFMoMA has recently acquired a number of his early prints and has exhibited them alongside contemporaries such as Garry Winogrand, Diane Arbus, and Lee Friedlander.
Producer/Director
Michael Jacobs
Michael Jacobs’ debut film Audience of One won a jury award at SXSW and screened at New Directors/New Films in 2007. He has since gone on to direct and produce documentaries for HBO, Disney+, ESPN, and the Roku Channel. His work has screened at festivals around the world and been nominated for an Emmy and a Critics Choice award.
Curator of Contemporary Art at SFMOMA
Eungie Joo
Eungie Joo is curator and head of Contemporary Art at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where she organized Kara Walker’s recent public commission, Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine), on view until spring 2026. In addition to producing new commissions, exhibition making, the and collection building, Joo’s curatorial practice is engaged with discursive and performative practices. Joo has worked internationally as Artistic Director of the 5th Anyang Public Art Project/APAP 5 (2016); Curator of Sharjah Biennial 12: The past, the present, the possible (2015); Curator of the New Museum Generational Triennial: The Ungovernables (2012); and Commissioner of the Korean Pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale, where she presented Condensation: Haegue Yang (2009). As Director and Curator of Education and Public Programs at the New Museum from 2007-2012, Joo led the Museum as Hub initiative and co-edited the publications The Art Spaces Directory (2012) and Rethinking Contemporary Art and Multicultural Education (2009). From 2003-2007, Joo was founding curator of the Gallery at REDCAT, Los Angeles. She has published widely, including recent essays on the work of Cinthia Marcelle, Tanya Lukin Linklater, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, and Adrián Villar Rojas. Joo earned her PhD in Ethnic Studies from the University of California at Berkeley.
Photos and trailer courtesy of PBS and Strike Anywhere Films.
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