Ian Teh’s concern for social, environmental, and political issues is evident in much of his photography. Amongst selected works, his series, The Vanishing: Altered Landscapes and Displaced Lives (1999-2003), records the devastating impact of the Three Gorges Dam on China’s Yangtze River. In later works, such as "Dark Clouds" (2006-2008), "Tainted Landscapes" (2007-2008), and "Traces" (2009-), Teh explores the darker consequences of China’s booming economy.
Teh has received numerous honors. Recently, he was selected by the Open Society Foundations to exhibit his work in New York for the 2013 "Moving Walls." In 2011, he won the Emergency Fund from the Magnum Foundation. His work was also highly commended for the Prix Pictet prize in 2009 and he was awarded a place on the Joop Swart Masterclass in 2001. Teh has exhibited widely and has been featured in contemporary art publications such as Elena Ochoa Foster’s C-International Photo Magazine, as well as international current affairs magazines such as Time and The New Yorker. Selected solo shows include the Jack Shainman Gallery in New York in 2004, Flowers in London in 2011, and the Kunsthal Museum in Rotterdam in 2012. In 2010, the literary magazine Granta published a ten-year retrospective of his work in China.
He has published two monographs, Undercurrents (2008) and Traces (2011). His work is also part of the permanent collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH); and the Hood Museum in the U.S.
