Nelson Chan

Nelson Chan was born in New Jersey to immigrant parents from Hong Kong and Taiwan and has spent most of his life between the US and Hong Kong (colonial and post-Handover eras). Having grown up on two continents with unique and shifting cultures, this immigrant experience has influenced the majority of his work.

Nelson is a graduate of RISD, where he received his BFA in Photography, and a graduate of the University of Hartford, Hartford Art School, where he received his MFA. He has been exhibited nationally and internationally at institutions such as the Museum of Chinese in America, New York, NY; Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA; The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA; Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany; and 798 Space, Beijing, China. His books are collected in the institutional libraries of the MET, the Guggenheim, SFMOMA, the Whitney Museum, the Harry Ransom Center, and MoMA, among others.

Along with his photographic work, book publishing is another focus of his studio practice. Nelson is co-founder of TIS books, an independent publisher that concentrates on limited-edition photobooks. He was production manager at the Aperture Foundation from 2016–19, and prior to his appointment at RISD, was an associate professor of photography at the California College of the Arts.