John Clang


John Clang, born Ang Choon Leng, is a Singaporean visual artist, photographer and independent filmmaker. Clang's 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 debut feature film Their Remaining Journey has 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 in Singapore. He earned his moniker while in the National Service in Singapore as his badge read C L Ang. At age 17 he enrolled in Lasalle College of the Arts in Singapore to study fine arts but left after six months to assist 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 betrays his fascination with time, space and how one negotiate the human existences with these dimensions.
The Land of My Heart is a series of work which re-appropriates the icon of the Singapore Girl, Singapore Airlines’ air stewardess, to contemplate on vestiges of identity and personal memories encapsulated in nostalgic spaces of a rapidly evolving motherland.
Being Together is a series of family portraits using Skype VoIP 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 these sitters with their families in Singapore. These forty 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 is a series of that involves recording a location, to show the passing of time in a montage style.

Exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions

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 President's Design Award is the most prestigious design accolade in Singapore.