Michael Jang
- Text by Shelley Jones
- Photography by Michael Jang
To celebrate Huck 46: The Documentary Photography Special II, our annual celebration of visual storytelling, we are having a Huck website takeover – Shoot Your World – dedicated to the personal stories behind the photographs we love.
In this regular series, Answers On A Postcard, we ask photographers to get existential and respond to a visual q&a with their images.
First up is Michael Jang, photographer of the wild, out of step, and famous. Jang has a diverse body of work that features a wide range of American life from his debauched 1970s Cal Arts classmates, Golden Age stars at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, and intimate family portraits to punks at Ramones shows, suburban teens in their garages, and 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 the surface.
His first London exhibition – Well, it’s all over now – is a one-night extravaganza hosted by The Photocopy Club at Doomed Gallery, Dalston, September 18.
Answers On A Postcard #1
Who are you?
A very lucky person.
What does home feel like?
Too comfortable. I always have a guilty feeling that being On the Road is where I should be.
What does faith look like?
I had to Google this: The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.
What’s your greatest fear?
It would be a bummer to wake up one day to headlines that someone with your name had committed some horrendous crime.
What keeps you up at night?
Oh, when it comes to sleep, I am not a procrastinator.
What helps you sleep?
Louis C.K. said: We shouldn’t sleep that much. Life isn’t that long. Buy some shit, use it, it breaks. Try to (bleep) somebody. Hope your shits don’t hurt too bad.
What’s the meaning of life?
Of all the things that I’ve heard or read so far, striving to be in the moment makes the most sense. I just hope that when all is said and done I wasn’t wrong.
Any vices?
Not really, maybe having a shot of great champagne to end the day.
See more from the Answers On A Postcard series.
Latest on Huck
Kathy Shorr’s splashy portraits inside limousines
The Ride of a Lifetime — Wanting to marry a love of cars and photography, Kathy Shorr worked as a limousine driver in the ’80s to use as a studio on wheels. Her new photobook explores her archive.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Lewd tales of live sex shows in ’80s Times Square
Peep Man — Before its LED-beaming modern refresh, the Manhattan plaza was a hotbed for seedy transgression. A new memoir revisits its red light district heyday.
Written by: Miss Rosen
In a world of noise, IC3PEAK are finding radicality in the quiet
Coming Home — Having once been held up as a symbol of Russian youth activism and rebellion, the experimental duo are now living in exile. Their latest album explores their new reality.
Written by: Isaac Muk
Are we steamrolling towards the apocalypse?
One second closer to midnight — While the rolling news cycle, intensifying climate crisis and rapidly advancing technology can make it feel as if the end days are upon us, newsletter columnist Emma Garland remembers that things have always been terrible, and that is a natural part of human life.
Written by: Emma Garland
In a city of rapid gentrification, one south London estate stands firm
A Portrait of Central Hill — Social housing is under threat across the British capital. But residents of the Central Hill estate in Crystal Palace are determined to save their homes, and their community.
Written by: Alex King
Analogue Appreciation: Maria Teriaeva’s five pieces that remind her of home
From Sayan to Savoie — In an ever more digital, online world, we ask our favourite artists about their most cherished pieces of physical culture. First up, the Siberian-born, Paris-based composer and synthesist.
Written by: Maria Teriaeva