Photo © Arien Chang Castan | Jíbaro Photos

Arien Chang Castan

Founding Member
born: Cuba
based: USA
Website | @arienchangstudio

Biography

The photography of Arien Chang is marked by the influence of the great masters of documentary photography, who defined his personal imagination as a photographer—Eugene Smith, Abbas, Larry Towell, and Henri Cartier-Bresson among others. He is also inspired by contemporary artists such as Alex Webb, David LaChepelle, William Eggleston, and David Alan Harvey. Chang works with the analog medium in black and white as well as with digital photography. He constantly feels the need to document his country in an effort to both discover and portray its social context. This has taken Chang all across Cuba where he finds characters and individuals for the stories he creates with his series.

Chang has participated in workshops given by photographers such as Stephen Dupont, Alex Webb, and Elizabeth Krist (editor at National Geographic). His works have been included in several solo exhibitions and group shows with both Cuban and international photographers. Some of his most significant shows include:

• “16mm/Fotografia en movimiento” (El Apartamento, Havana 2018)

• “Cuba en Vivo” (Dox Center Prague, Prague 2016)

• “Variables” (Allianza Francesca de Cuba, Havana 2017)

• “Pingyao Festival” (China 2013)

• “A Traves de mis Ojos” (X88 Gallery, Australia 2013)

• “Cuba Collaboration” (Emerald Art Center, USA 2012)

• “Gulliver” (Freies Museum Berlin, Germany 2012)

• “Long e Vidad” (Fototeca de Cuba, Havana 2010)

• “Foto Visura Festival” (New York 2010)

• “Cuba, Imagen y Posibilidad” (Ciudad de Mexico 2009)

Chang has been the recipient of the Red Gate Residency (China) and Habana Cultura (Cuba) scholarships, both in 2013. Many of his photographs have also been published in magazines such as:

• “Take Magazine” (Australia 2013)

• “Slanted: Cuba, The New Generation” (Germany 2013)

• “Pumping Iron in Cuba” National Geographic Magazine (USA 2014)

• “Arte Cubano” (Cuba 2014)

• “Burn Magazine” (USA 2015)

• “Smithsonian Journeys” (USA 2016)

• “Art OnCuba Magazine” (Cuba 2018)

Chang’s work is part of collections in Spain, Bolivia, Germany, Denmark, Mexico, Brazil, and China, and is also exhibited at the Waltraut Ludwig Museum (Germany) and the Lehigh University Art Gallery (USA).

Gallery