John Clang

John Clang, born Ang Choon Leng, is a Singaporean visual artist, photographer and independent filmmaker. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide. National Museum of Singapore and Singapore Art Museum acquired his artwork as part of their permanent collection. Clang currently lives and works in Singapore and New York.

In 2018, his first feature film, Their Remaining Journey, had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and was nominated for the Bright Future Award. It is also the opening film for Painting with Light: Festival of International Films on Art at National Gallery Singapore.

Early years
Clang was born Ang Choon Leng (汪春龙) in Singapore. He earned his nickname while in National Service in Singapore as his badge read "C L Ang". At the age of 17, he enrolled in Lasalle College of the Arts in Singapore to study fine arts but left after six months to assist the fine-art photographer Chua Soo Bin, who received the Cultural Medallion in 1988.

Work
Clang's work explores the commonplaces, mundane subject matters and common nuances that closely relate to our daily life. His work portrays his fascination with time, space and how one negotiates the human existence with these dimensions.

The Land of My Heart (2014) is a series of work which re-appropriates the icon of the Singapore Girl, Singapore Airlines' air stewardess, to contemplate vestiges of identity and personal memories encapsulated in nostalgic spaces of a rapidly evolving motherland.

Being Together (2010–2012) is a series of family portraits using Skype VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) technology to do live recording of family members and project them across continents.

Clang started on the series by photographing his own family in 2010. From 2010 to 2012, he located Singaporeans around the world and travelled to cities such as London, Paris, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Los Angeles and Seattle to photograph them with their families in Singapore. These 40 family portraits were part of a showcase of over 90 works by Clang exhibited at the National Museum of Singapore in January 2013, together with more than 40 historical family portraits from the museum's collection.

Time (2009) is a series that involves recording a location, to show the passing of time in a montage style.

Selected solo exhibitions

 * 2001 Backs, DVF studio, New York City
 * 2003 They Were in Color: 4 June 2001 – 27 January 2002, Galerie Colette, Paris, France
 * 2003 Fear of Losing the Existence, Bank Art Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
 * 2004 Clang. A Self Portrait, Jendela Gallery/The Esplanade, Singapore
 * 2007 Clang: A White Book, The Substation, Singapore
 * 2010 Con(Front), 2902 Gallery, Singapore
 * 2012 John Clang: Self Reflection, Pékin Fine Arts, Beijing, China
 * 2013 Being Together: Family & Portraits – Photographing with John Clang, National Museum of Singapore, Singapore
 * 2013 When I say you are dreaming, so am I, 2902 Gallery, Art Stage Singapore, Singapore
 * 2014 (Re)Contextualizing My Mind, Pékin Fine Arts, Hong Kong.
 * 2016 The World Surrounding an Indoor Plant, FOST Gallery, Gillman Barracks, Singapore

Selected group exhibitions

 * 1993 Critical Framework, 5th Passage Gallery, Singapore
 * 2002 Porn?, Proud Galleries, London, UK
 * 2002 Fascination, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
 * 2009 (super)natural, The Tobacco Warehouse, Brooklyn, New York City
 * 2009 TransportAsian, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
 * 2010 Through the Looking Glass, Annexe Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
 * 2010 Through the Looking Glass, 2902 Gallery, Singapore
 * 2010 HIDEntities, mc2gallery, Milan, Italy
 * 2010 2nd Dali International Photography Festival, Human : Nature, Dali, Yunan, China
 * 2010 Human Faces, National Museum of Singapore, Singapore
 * 2010 The 2010 Sovereign Asian Art Prize, Artspace@Helutrans, Singapore
 * 2011 The Open Daybook Exhibition, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), Los Angeles, USA
 * 2011 ANGSANA: Southeast Asian Photographers Taking Flight, 2902 Gallery, Singapore
 * 2011 The 2010 Sovereign Asian Art Prize, The Rotunda, Exchange Square, Hong Kong
 * 2011 NOW or NEVER, ION Art Gallery, Singapore
 * 2011 What's Next 30 x 30 Creative Exhibition, The OCT Art & Design Gallery, Shenzhen, China
 * 2011 What's Next 30 x 30 Creative Exhibition, ArtisTree, Hong Kong
 * 2011 Not Too Far Away, 2902 Gallery, Singapore
 * 2012 The 2011 Sovereign Asian Art Prize, The Sands Expo and Convention Center, Singapore
 * 2012 Crossing SEA(s), 2902 Gallery, Singapore
 * 2012 I See China, Pékin Fine Arts, Beijing, China
 * 2012 Paper Moon, KSU Art Museum, Kennesaw, USA
 * 2012 Venti d'Oriente, mc2gallery, Milan, Italy
 * 2012 W I T H ( O U T ), Brockspace, London, UK
 * 2013 Zoological, 2902 Gallery, Singapore
 * 2013 Ghost, Sculpture Square, Singapore
 * 2014 Family Matters, Centre for Contemporary Culture Strozzina, Florence, Italy
 * 2014 Anthropos New York, Sundaram Tagore, New York City
 * 2014 Afterimage: Contemporary Photography from Southeast Asia, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
 * 2014 Asuntos domésticos, Sala exposiciones Diputación de Huesca, Spain
 * 2014 War Room, Pékin Fine Arts Hong Kong
 * 2017 The Poetics of Absence, 1X1 Art Gallery, Dubai
 * 2018 Singapore Unseen, Pera Museum, Istanbul

Awards
On 19 November 2010, John Clang became the first photographer in Singapore to receive the Designer of the Year award at the annual President's Design Award, the most prestigious design accolade in Singapore.