Photographer Michael Jang brings his secret America to London for the first time
- Text by Shelley Jones
- Photography by Michael Jang
![Photographer Michael Jang brings his secret America to London for the first time](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/article-2706084-1FFB1C1A00000578-263_964x637_2023-04-03-102238_yxim.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
The images of San Francisco-based photographer Michael Jang will make you double take.
In between the hedonistic snapshots of his 1970s Cal Arts classmates – often naked, blind drunk, and lost in dance – are some familiar faces. David Bowie, Frank Sinatra, Ravi Shankar and Johnny Rotten are just some of the icons that pop up, much to the viewer’s surprise, for striking cameos in the funny and opportunistic adventure that is Jang’s life.
But it’s not super stars that make Jang’s work exceptional. It’s his eye for character. Whether he’s shooting punks at Ramones shows or suburban teens in their garages, intimate exchanges at home with his family or weather presenter auditionees in the 1980s, Jang goes for the moments when his subjects let their guards down and captures the humour, passion and vulnerability beneath.
Although he spent his youth sneaking into the Beverly Hilton Hotel to cosy up to the A-List cognoscenti, Jang’s life forked away from the limelight and his work has only received recognition in recent years, due, in part, to his induction at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Now. thanks to another major indie photography player The Photocopy Club, Jang’s work is being exhibited in London for the first time ever in a one-night show on September 18 at Doomed Gallery, Dalston.
In a spirit of immediacy that is native to both Jang and TPC, the show – Well, it’s all over now – will feature a single edition of 20 photographs, printed as A1 black and white xerox prints by Jang – signed, dated and for sale. There will be an exhibition zine published by TPC that will be released on the night.
We asked Jang to answer some existential questions, through pictures, for the first in our Answers On A Postcard series, as part of our website photography takeover, Shoot Your World, to celebrate Huck 46: The Documentary Photography Special II.
Head to The Photocopy Club website for more info on the show.
Latest on Huck
![Meet the Paratriathlete who cheated death twice](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/Huck81_Socials_HeroImage_George3.0_240618_V2.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Meet the Paratriathlete who cheated death twice
A near fatal training crash ruined British Paralympian George Peasgood’s Paris 2024 plans. As he recovers, his life and outlook are changing – will LA 2028 be part of his future?
Written by: Sheridan Wilbur
A glimpse of life for women in Afghanistan under Taliban rule
‘NO WOMAN’S LAND’ has been awarded the prestigious 14th Carmignac Photojournalism Award and will be exhibited at the Réfectoire des Cordelieres in Paris this autumn.
Written by: Isaac Muk
![In Photos: A decade growing up in pre-gentrification Lower East Side](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/Cappetta_Angela_1.jpeg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
In Photos: A decade growing up in pre-gentrification Lower East Side
A new photobook provides an up-close-and-personal look at the life of a Puerto Rican family, documenting them growing up as the world changed around them.
Written by: Isaac Muk
![This summer taught us everything is... marketing](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/Huck_Newsletter_Aug24_Collage_Green_V1.png?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
This summer taught us everything is... marketing
Months of historic political violence, memes, auras, and, of course, ‘brat’ has newsletter columnist Emma Garland asking if anything is real anymore?
Written by: Emma Garland
![Rick Castro’s intimate portraits of love and remembrance](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/Rick-Castro-1.png?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Rick Castro’s intimate portraits of love and remembrance
Columbarium Continuum is an ongoing exhibition of photographs displayed inside the two-story art nouveau columbarium of the iconic Hollywood Forever cemetery.
Written by: Miss Rosen
![The disabled Flâneur forcing us to rethink our cities](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/The-Flaneur_1.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
The disabled Flâneur forcing us to rethink our cities
This perspective-shifting short film follows Phil Waterworth, the wheelchair-bound urban explorer confronting a lack of accessibility in cities like Sheffield.
Written by: Alex King