Press Release

University Museum and Art Gallery Exhibition “The Tank Man and the Changing Art and Craft of Photojournalism”

06 Jun 2014

Photo by Jeff Widener

The University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG) of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) is holding an exhibition to display the artworks of American photographer Jeff Widener including the "Tank Man", one of the world’s most iconic images in modern photo-journalism. This centrepiece will be presented in a small group of 12 photos all documenting the political events at Tiananmen Square in June 1989 from June 3 through June 29, 2014. In connection with this display, Mr Widener give a public talk entitled “The Tank Man and the Changing Art and Craft of Photojournalism” at UMAG today (June 6, Friday).

BIOGRAPHY OF JEFF WIDENER

Jeff Widener is an American photographer who took the famous image of a lone man confronting a column of tanks during

the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising, an image so iconic that it is known simply as “the tank man photo.” For that picture, taken while he was a photojournalist for The Associated Press, Widener was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Widener managed to sneak into Beijing for the two-week assignment. He secretively positioned himself to take the tank man photo and then had it furtively sent for transmission — and eventual front-page display in newspapers worldwide. At the Square, Widener documented the campaign of the students and other street protesters, and was almost killed when a stray rock thrown by a protester struck him in the face.

Widener began making images at an early age. In 1974, while attending Reseda High School in California, he was awarded the Kodak/Scholastic National Photography Scholarship, for which 8,000 students from across the United States competed. He later worked on daily newspapers in Indiana, Nevada, Florida and Hawaii. At age 24, he joined United Press International in Brussels, Belgium, as an overseas wire service photographer. Consequently, Widener became the Associated Press picture editor in Bangkok, Thailand.

Widener has covered major news stories in more than 100 countries, including the Gulf War, the Polish Solidarity movement, Khmer Rouge fighting in Cambodia, Pope John Paul II’s visit to Papua New Guinea, and the 1988 Summer Olympics in South Korea. He was one of the few American staff photographers based overseas during the transition from analogue to digital photography. Widener is credited with transmitting the first digital news images from the South Pole.

During his career, Widener has received hundreds of awards and citations such as the DART Award from Columbia University, The National Headliner Award, the Overseas Press Club and the New York Press Club awards, and the Scoop award in France. He was the first non-Italian to win the Chia Sardina Award in Italy.

DETAILS OF THE EXHIBITION
“The Tank Man and the Changing Art and Craft of Photojournalism”

Period: June 3, 2014 (Tuesday) to June 29, 2014 (Sunday)
Opening Hours: 09:30 to 18:00 (Monday – Saturday);
13:00 – 18:00 (Sunday).
Closed on University and Public Holidays
For details, please visit https://www.hkumag.hku.hk/about_us.html
Venue: 2/F, Fung Ping Shan Building, University Museum and Art Gallery, the University of
Hong Kong
For location, please visit: https://www.hkumag.hku.hk/location.html
Tel: (852) 2241 5500 (General Enquiry)
Fees: Free Admission
Website: www.hkumag.hku.hk