About
Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao (b. 1977, Taiwan) is a Taiwanese-American photographer celebrated for his large-scale, hyper-detailed panoramic images of urban life. He immigrated to the United States in 1999 at the age of 22, settling in Queens, New York—an ethnically diverse borough aligned with the 7 subway line, famously dubbed the “International Express” by the NYC Department of City Planning.
Liao holds an MFA from the School of Visual Arts and a BFA from Pratt Institute. His critically acclaimed series Habitat 7—originating as his master’s thesis—documented the vibrant communities along the seven-mile stretch of the 7 train from Manhattan to Flushing. This body of work earned him national recognition when he won the New York Times Magazine “Capture the Times” photography contest in 2005. Following this debut, Liao expanded his focus to other urban landscapes, treating New York City as a dynamic, ever-evolving organism. In 2012, he received the Emerging Icon in Photography Award from the George Eastman House.
For over a decade, Liao has dedicated himself to examining and capturing the social fabric and architectural transformation of New York City. Transitioning from large-format film to digital photography, he developed a signature technique of seamlessly stitching multiple exposures into singular, immersive panoramas—each reflecting his nuanced observations over time. His projects span all five boroughs and include Depth of Fields, Grand Concourse (commissioned by the Bronx Museum of the Arts), and Coney Island. These works will be presented in his solo exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York.
Liao’s photographs have been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions and are held in the permanent collections of esteemed institutions including: the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Queens Museum; Brooklyn Museum; J. Paul Getty Museum; George Eastman House–International Museum of Photography and Film; Norton Museum of Art; JGS Howard Stein Collection; The Pilara Foundation Collection; Allen G. Thomas Jr. Collection; and the Deutsche Bank Art Collection.
His first monograph, Habitat 7, with an essay by Anne W. Tucker, was published in 2008 by Nazraeli Press, which also released his second monograph, Coney Island, in 2013. In 2014, Aperture Foundation published Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao: New York, a comprehensive volume encompassing a decade of his work in the city.
Liao has lectured widely on his practice and methodology at institutions such as the International Center of Photography, J. Paul Getty Museum, George Eastman House, Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, School of Visual Arts, Aperture Foundation, and the Museum of the City of New York.
Education
2003 Pratt Institute of Art and Design, Brooklyn, NY B.F.A. Photography
2005 School of Visual Art, New York, NY M.F.A. Photography and Related Media
Selected Exhibitions
Solo show
2021 The Municipal Art Society of New York
2017 24 Solar Terms: Central Park Michael Foley Gallery
2015 Recent works, Frieze Art Fair New York. Deutsche Bank's VIP Lounge
2014 “Assembled Realities”, Museum of the City of New York
2013 New York City Building Time Lapse, 2009 – 2013, Queens Museum of Art.
2013 MTA Arts for Transit: Atlantic Avenue Lightbox project Greetings from Coney Island.
2012 Widely Different: New York City Panorama, South Street Seaport Museum (Two-person)
2011 MTA Arts for Transit: Lightbox project 7 X 7: Views Along the 7 Line
2011 Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao, The Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck Foundation, NY
2010 Urban Panoramas, J. Paul Getty Museum, CA (Three Person show)
2010 BQMB, Julie Saul Gallery, NY
2010 Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao, Kentucky Art Museum, KY
2009 Grand Concourse at 100, Bronx Museum of Art, NY
2009 Habitat 7, Citibank, Long Island City, NY
2008 Habitat 7, Houston Center of Photography, 2008 FOTO FEST, Houston TX
2008 Visions of America, Crane Kalman Brighton, UK
2007 Habitat 7, Bulova Corporate Center, NY
2006 Habitat 7, Queens Museum of Art, NY
2006 Habitat 7, Julie Saul Gallery, NY
2003 Nature / Nurture, Steuben Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Group show
2024 Eyes on Main Street Wilson Outdoor Photo Festival, Wilson NC
2023 This Is New York: 100 Years of the City in Art and Pop Culture, Museum of City of New York
2022 The Altered Environment, North Carolina Museum of Art, NC
2021 Contemporary Voices in Asian American Photography, the J. Paul Getty Museum
2020 Somewhere in the Past, Around Space Gallery, Shanghai, China
2020 Taiwan Biennial 2020, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan
2019 Psychogeography: Spiritual and Aesthetic, Hewitt Gallery of Art, Manhattan, NY
2018 Seeing the Worlds, Deutsch Bank, Manhattan, NY
2017 7 Line Subway Exhibition, New York Transit Museum, Brooklyn, NY, 2017
2017 Shifting Perspectives: Photographs of Brooklyn's Waterfront Brooklyn Historical Society
2016 NY at its CORE Museum of the City of New York
2015 Aperture: Photographs Avenue of the Americas Gallery in New York
2015 Wild Noise: Artwork from The Bronx Museum of the Arts and El Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes at El Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
2015 Time Present: International Photography from the Deutsche Bank Collection Touring Asia, National Gallery of Modern Art in Mumbai
2014 Time Present: International Photography from the Deutsche Bank Collection Touring Asia, Singapore Art Museum
2014 Of Time and Buildings, George Eastman House, Rochester, NY
2013 A Beautiful Way to Go: New York's Green-Wood Cemetery, Museum of City of New York
2013 After Photoshop: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston TX
2013 0 to 60: The Experience of Time through Contemporary Art, North Carolina Museum of Art
2012 SVA Alumni Show Myths & Realities by Kathy Ryan and Scott Thode, School of Visual Art Gallery
2012 From Farm to City: Staten Island, Museum of City of New York
2011 New York, New York! The 20th Century, Katonah Museum of Art
2011 25 Years/25 Artists, Julie Saul Gallery, New York
2008 Rethinking Landscape: Photography from the Allen G. Thomas Jr. Collection, Taubman Museum of Art, VA
2008 Photoscapes, Kinz, Tillou + Feigen, NY
2007 Habitat 7, Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles
2007 Vital Signs: Place, George Eastman House, Rochester, NY
2007 Big Picture, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL
2007 CHINA seen by..., University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI
2006 Depth of Field, Pratt Manhattan Gallery, NY
2006 HotPics/06, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY
2005 See What I Mean, Visual Art Gallery, NY
2004 Nexus: Taiwan in Queens, Queens Museum of Art, NY
Awards
2012 Emerging Icon in Photography Award, George Eastman House
2006 New Photographers to Watch, PDN 30, Photo District News
2005 New York Times Magazine 2nd Annual "Capture The Times" Winner
Publications
2017 24 Solar Terms: Central Park, Nazraeli Press
2014 Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao: New York, Aperture
2013 Coney Island, Nazraeli Press
2007 Habitat 7, Nazraeli Press
Collections
The Art Museum at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, CA
Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY
Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY
Citibank Collection, Long Island City, NY
Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH
Colby College Museum of Art, MA
Deutsche Bank Collection, New York, NY
George Eastman House, Rochester, NY
Harvard University. Cambridge, MA
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago, IL
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Museum of the City of New York, NY
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO
Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL
North Carolina Museum of Art, NC
Peabody Essex Museum (PEM), MA
Queens Museum of Art, NY
Rose Museum at Brandeis University, MA
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Yeshiva University, New York, NY
Ronay and Richard Menschel Collection
The Pilara Foundation Collection / Pier 24
Allen G. Thomas Jr. Collection
JGS / Howard Stein Collection
Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser Collection