Renowned Taiwan photographer inspired by loneliness

By Melanie Lee

SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) - Surrounded by black and white photographs under soft yellow lights, Chang Chien-Chi resembles the images he takes: simple and quiet.

The Taiwan-born photographer, who splits his time between New York and Taiwan, has won numerous accolades for his stills that capture themes of alienation, immigrant culture and separation.

Chang was in Singapore this week to promote a photography exhibition where 130 of his photos from three collections: "The Chain", "China Town" and "Double Happiness", will be on display from Oct 10 to Jan 4 at the National Museum of Singapore.

Chang started out in the 1990s as a photojournalist working at U.S. newspapers. His thoughtful, humanistic approach to the art landed him an invitation to join an exclusive photographer fraternity Magnum Photos, co-founded by famed French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, in 1995.

"We are saturated with images; someone said this once before: You cannot change what's happening but you can at least document what's changing," Chang told Reuters in an interview.

In his late forties, the softspoken self-confessed loner said he identifies closely with his subjects and seeks to document their lives through the viewfinder.

His collection, "China Town", captures the sense of alienation and marginalisation felt by Chinese immigrants living in New York City. Echoing his own sense of displacement, his work also traces the lives of the families left behind in China.

"A lot of my inspiration has to do with angst and alienation, probably because of my experience in the States," Chang said.