Jet Lag

Today is Monday, so this must be Zurich.” For those who travel a lot, the world becomes a steel-and-concrete construct of interchangeable flight crews, hotel rooms, and check-in counters. In this jet-setting life, the most important thing is that the power adapter fits. For Jet Lag, award-winning photographer Chien-Chi Chang (*1961 in Taiwan) has created succinct black-and-white images of globalized disconnect. In these photographs, reality is less a touchstone than a distraction: the crucial space is “between.” Planes and beds and flickering screens provide the only continuity, and there is little human warmth except the body heat of the passenger in the next seat and the sounds coming through the wall from the adjacent room.0Chien-Chi Chang has been a member of Magnum Photos since 2001. His several series about alienation—in mental states, in marriage, in nationality—have been exhibited throughout the world, creating a sensation in 2001 and 2009 at the Venice Biennale.