Object Details
Artist
Tseng Kwong Chi, born Hong Kong, China 1950-died New York City 1990
Gallery Label
In his signature series East Meets West, Tseng Kwong Chi created a role for himself he called the "Ambiguous Ambassador." Wearing a Mao suit (the gray uniform associated with the Chinese Communist Party) and mirrored sunglasses, he posed next to landmarks and monuments, many of them emblems of American national identity.
Tseng highlighted the signifying power of dress and posture. As an immigrant and person of Chinese descent, he was also conscious of how Asians are stereotyped in the West. His donning of the Mao suit in public was a tongue-in-cheek performance of "Chineseness" that both played to and subverted assumptions about race, culture, and nationality.
Gallery label, 2024
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment and the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center
Copyright
© Muna Tseng Dance Projects, Inc.
Date
1987, printed 2008
Object number
2021.14.6
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Photography
Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
frame: 37 1/4 × 37 1/4 in. (94.6 × 94.6 cm) image: 36 × 36 in. (91.4 × 91.4 cm)
See more items in
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department
Graphic Arts
Data Source
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Topic
Landscape\Arizona\Monument Valley
Link to Original Record
Record ID
saam_2021.14.6