Curator

  • Art Institute Chicago
  • Harvard art museum
  • My Exhibition
A work made of gelatin silver print.

Provincetown, Massachusetts, from the series "East Meets West (The Expeditionary Series)"

1980

Tseng Kwong Chi American, 1950-1990

United States

In the series East Meets West (later titled The Expeditionary Series), Chinese-born performance artist Tseng Kwong Chi donned the standard gray uniform worn by the Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung. Wearing this “Mao suit” and mirrored sunglasses, Tseng would pose in front of classic American and European tourist landmarks. These works parody the tourist snapshot, stereotypes of Asians in the West, and the anti-Communist rhetoric of the Cold War all at once. Tseng produced his first pictures in the series, this one among them, in Provincetown. In this image, the artist incongruously walks along the Cape Cod dunes while fully dressed in his costume, his hand holding a shutter release cord that extends past the edge of the frame.

Gelatin silver print

Photography and Media