VINTAGE PHOTOS. Elusive and once-obscure artist Michael Jang (seen standing in the top photo) shows his art along the streets of San Francisco. Who is Michael Jang? — a new episode of Independent Lens — premieres on Monday, May 19. (Photos/Brent Willson)

From The Asian Reporter, V35, #5 (May 5, 2025), page 10.

Monday, May 19

11:00pm to midnight

Oregon Public Broadcasting

On Monday, May 19, Oregon Public Broadcasting is airing a new episode of Independent Lens called Who is Michael Jang? The 60-minute documentary by filmmaker Michael Jacobs introduces viewers to the story behind 50-year-old photographs that had remained mostly hidden to the world.

San Francisco-based artist Michael Jang sat on the trove of photographs for five decades. The images, taken when he was in his 20s, were underground snapshots that captured communities and subcultures. The pictures infiltrated and observed the area and its people, yet received little notice.

Jang spent his career working as a commercial photographer. In 2021, however, at the age of 70, he attempted to get his works — vintage prints taken on the streets of San Francisco during a pivotal time — seen more widely.

The elusive, once-obscure artist brought the photographs into the public eye by pasting reproductions of the vintage prints around San Francisco, including Chinatown where images of his Chinese American family took on a more subversive meaning, especially amid the rise in 2021 of anti-Asian hate and violence in the city.

The film captures Jang’s exploits as his experimental street art morphs into a meta-exploration of his personal history and identity. In the process, Who is Michael Jang? bears witness to Jang becoming reacquainted with his younger self through the decades-old images resonating with vital, new meaning today.

"Michael Jang’s art is clever and mischievous," said Independent Lens executive producer Lois Vossen. "In a time when the high-art photography world had no place for anything funny, Jang stayed true to himself and captured the quirky and often humorous aspects of everyday life. His visual storytelling is really funny and — like this documentary — both informative and entertaining."

After decades in obscurity, the film shows how Jang uses graffiti tactics to share his previously unknown body of fine art photography with unsuspecting audiences.

Who is Michael Jang? premieres on Monday, May 19 at 11:00pm on Oregon Public Broadcasting. The film is also streaming on the PBS app. To learn more, visit <www.opb.org>.

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