Tseng kwong chi

Who was Tseng kwong chi?

Tseng Kwong Chi was a photographer who was active in the East Village art scene in the 1980s. His most famous body of work is his self-portrait series, East Meets West, also called the "Expeditionary Series." In the series, Tseng dressed in what he called his "Mao suit" and sunglasses, and photographed himself situated, often emotionlessly, in front of iconic tourist sites of the West including Notre Dame de Paris and the World Trade Center.

Tseng also took thousands of photographs of New York graffiti artist Keith Haring throughout the 1980s working on murals, installations and the subway. In 1984, his photographs were shown with Haring's work at the opening of the Semaphore Gallery's East Village location in a show titled "Art in Transit".

Kwong Chi died of AIDS-related illness in 1990, and was survived by his companion of seven years Robert-Kristoffer Haynes, who remains a resident of New York City and serves as Registrar at Paula Cooper Gallery.

Tseng has been included in the Asian American Arts Centre's digital archive.