About - Kang-Chun Cheng's Portfolio

About Me

[usually and currently: Nairobi, Kenya; Greece April 21-May 6, New Hampshire/New York May]

KC 鄭康君 (b. 1995) is a Taiwanese American photojournalist based in Nairobi, Kenya for 5 years, covering how environment change impacts one's sense of belonging, foreign aid, and outdoor adventure. Her work began in the Arctic and extends globally, including unfriendly places like Western Sahara, northern Mozambique, and South Sudan–she can work in any environment with ease. She's the editor-at-large at The Xylom, the only AAPI science newsroom in the US.

With a background in ecology and art, KC initially picked up a camera to document the behind-the-scenes of field research, before turning her attention to finding ways to humanize seemingly far-flung places to audiences curious about the world, and their place in it.

In her work, KC examines themes of belonging and nostalgia in a world of unending flux. As overwhelming as both manmade and natural catastrophes may seem, it’s the tenderness of human connections that makes survival possible.

KC has herded reindeer in Finnmark, roasted lamb with pastoralists in the mountains of Xinjiang, hitchhiked through Tunisia, photographed from the back of a motorbike in the Karoo Desert, investigated how pesticides are poisoning Sri Lankan water supplies, spoken to former insurgents in Cabo Delgado, walked the Camino de Santiago, and free-dived off of the south Sinai peninsula. She loves big landscapes and can be found climbing rocks whenever possible.

Selected Publications

writing: Mekong Review, No Niin Magazine, Africa Intelligence, Atmos, Hidden Compass, Africa Confidential, Al Jazeera, Summit Journal, Ori Magazine, Nieman Labs, Earth Island Journal

photography: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, Le Monde, El Pais, Christian Science Monitor, BBC Future, Der Spiegel, Climbing, Bicycling, The Nation, Agence France-Presse, Nature