Michael Cherney
American, active in China, born 1969
- Names
Cherney, Michael
Michael Cherney
Qiu Mai
- Born
Brooklyn 1969
- Active
Beijing 1991
- Occupation or Type
photographer
calligrapher
- Bio
Born in Brooklyn in 1969, Michael Cherney studied Chinese and East Asian history at the State University of New York at Binghamton and moved to Beijing in 1991 to further his Chinese language studies. A life-threatening illness in 1993 forced him to reevaluate his life and, inspired by his grandfather Charles Hoff who had worked as a newspaper photographer, he took up photography as a means to see and understand his environment.
An avid mountain-climber and hiker, Cherney has traveled to China's most remote landscapes. His goal is not to capture scenes that have never before been photographed, but to interpret the landscape through his extensive knowledge of Chinese art history and literature. Using a process that he personally developed, Cherney prints his images on special Chinese or Japanese papers and mounts them in painting formats such as hanging scrolls, handscrolls, and fans.
- Gender
Male
