Kang-Chun Cheng
photojournalist

 

About Me

[Nairobi, Kenya]

KC 鄭康君 (b. 1995) is a Taiwanese American photojournalist covering how climate change exacerbates insecurity, cultural continuity within Indigenous communities, foreign aid, and outdoor adventure. She has been based in Nairobi for 4 years and uses photography as a tool for storytelling. She has reported from Uganda, Egypt, Norway, Finland, the US, Sri Lanka, India, the Western Sahara, and Morocco.

In her work, KC examines themes of belonging and nostalgia against our shifting relationships with the natural world. 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 the Arctic, roasted lamb with pastoralists in the mountains of Xinjiang, hitchhiked through Tunisia, harvested honey with the Yaaku in Kenya's Laikipia North, walked the Camino de Santiago, and free-dived on the south Sinai peninsula. She loves big landscapes and can be found climbing rocks whenever possible.


Selected Publications

The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, Al Jazeera, Christian Science Monitor, BBC Future, Der Spiegel, Climbing, Bicycling

Translated and Republished

 Apple News, Courrier International, Internazionale

Education

2013-2017 Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA; B.A. Environmental Science, minors Studio Art & Chinese

Certifications

2022: HEFAT Nairobi, Kenya

2021: Scuba Schools International (SSI): Freediving Level 1

Languages

Mandarin, English


Grants, Awards, & Recognition

2024: New York Times Portfolio Review

2024: Speaker for Research Seminar 'special topics in industrial design,' Georgia Tech school of architecture and industrial design

2023: Missouri Photo Workshop 75, Dope to Hope

2023: Deloitte Photo Grant, shortlist

2023: Global Health Journalist Talk at Davidson College, Pulitzer Center

2023: Der Greif 15th Anniversary, "Past & Present"

2023: Gold in the Solas Awards, Best Travel Writing Sports Category: The New Ascentionists

2023: Pulitzer Center Grantee: From herders to fishers–a tale of climate-induced livelihood adaptivity

2022  Pulitzer Center Grantee: Trust and Distrust in Western Sahara, Africa's Covid "black hole"

2022 Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists Grantee: IMWF

2022 Women Photograph Mentorship Class

2021 Rory Peck Hardship Assistance Fund

2021 Freelance Journalist Assembly safety clinic 

2021 OPC Freelance Journalist Microgrant

2020 Laluz Workshop Scholarship: Your Work and Its Audience

2020 Der Greif Issue 13: Surplus Management

2020 Fulbright Semi-Finalist

2017 H. Allen Brooks Travelling Fellowship

2016 Neukom Institute of Computation ScienceTravel Grant

Associations

Represented by Redux

International Press Association of East Africa

Women Photograph

The Journal Collective

Frontline Freelance Register

Society of Environmental Journalists

Overseas Press Club of America

Diversify Photo

Authority Collective

Uproot Project

Using Format