Michael Jang, a San Francisco-based artist known for his offbeat style and sharp eye, quietly built an extraordinary photographic archive during his twenties. For years, he kept these images—ranging from spontaneous celebrity moments to tender, lighthearted depictions of his Chinese American family—tucked away from public view. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, he began bringing his work to the streets, pasting prints onto boarded storefronts in a raw, DIY form of public expression.
His house, where Jang has lived and worked for nearly 50 years, has been more than just a home. It has doubled as a creative lab, exhibition space, and repository for his vast image collection. He raised his children there, and the front parlor—once a traditional dining room—now overflows with artistic energy. Walls are lined with plywood bearing his grainy black-and-white prints, while a central table holds an evolving photo collage, scraps of paper curling and spilling onto the floor.
Jang studied fine art photography seriously, completing his MFA at the San Francisco Art Institute in the late 1970s. But instead of early fame, he spent years photographing events and freelancing for local news outlets. All the while, he continued shooting and saving—his negatives and prints growing into an extensive, undocumented visual history.
The rediscovered body of work offers a window into American life from unexpected angles—capturing the buzz of ‘70s pop culture, the grit of underground music scenes, and the everyday rhythms of a first-generation immigrant household. What started as a quiet personal archive has since become a living, evolving street art project. Through public installations that mix photography with graphics and handwritten messages, Jang reimagines his past work in real time—making it newly alive and deeply rooted in the present.
