Manbo Key (Yang Teng Chi)

Institutional residence in collaboration with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office and the Taiwanese Ministry of Culture

September - October 2024

Manbo Key (Yang Teng Chi). Taipei , 1986

Yang Teng Chi, known professionally as Manbo Key, was born into a large Hakka family in the Dongshi district of Taichung. Despite growing up in a small conservative town, his maverick father helped shape a relatively free and liberal environment, one where his intergenerational upbringing enabled him to develop a sense of individual agency at a young age. This background has naturally influenced Yang’s practice and research, with thematic explorations that draw parallels to the ever-changing world.

His practice is driven by an examination of desire and a constant investigation of the self. In seeking to expand on understandings of identity and by engaging with contemporary discourse, Yang hopes to create spaces that allow for the coexistence of the body and soul.

As a queer artist, Yang actively challenges the boundaries of social dichotomies and contributes to the evolving discussions on sex and gender in Asia.

His current work spans images and installations, using the medium of photography to reassess and reconsider memories. In 2019, Yang’s work Father’s Video Tapes won the Grand Prize at the Taipei Art Awards. An extension of this series, Father’s Video Tapes__Avoid A Void, won the Taishin Arts Award in 2021, and the third iteration, Diverse Identities __Father’s Video Tapes, was produced in 2022 when he returned to his hometown. This last series was exhibited in the Taiwan-Lithuania Cultural Exchange Group Exhibition: Overwriting Reality – Archives and Identity in Taiwanese Contemporary Photography.