{"id":889471,"date":"2026-09-12T15:06:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T15:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/889471\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T15:06:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T15:06:24","slug":"photos-of-bureaucrats-from-all-over-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/889471\/","title":{"rendered":"Photos of Bureaucrats From All Over the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ASushma Prasad (b. 1962) is an assistant clerk at the Cabinet Secretary of the State of Bihar (population 83 million) in The Old Secretariat in the state capital, Patna. She was hired \u201con compassionate grounds\u201d because of the death of her husband, who until 1997 worked in the same department. 2004. <\/p>\n

Jan Banning has been photographing bureaucrats from all over the world since 2002. He first published his acclaimed book, Bureaucratics, in 2008. He recently released Bureaucratics Revisited, which explores his archive and includes fresh work. <\/p>\n

To create the seminal body of work, Dutch photographer Jan Banning undertook an unprecedented global journey through the offices of those who wield state power.<\/p>\n

Over the course of five years and across eight countries, Banning trained his lens on the largely unnoticed human face of bureaucracy.<\/p>\n

The environmental portraits are defined by their square format, frontal perspective, and deadpan clarity. Each is taken from the eye level of the citizen entering the office. <\/p>\n

\"ADon Albino d\u2019Orlando is the military chaplain of the Carabinieri in the Friuli region. He performs all the duties of a regular priest: leading mass, supporting people in difficult times, and administering sacraments to the dying. He is originally from Tolmezzo and is 60 years old. \"AConstantino Aya Viri Castro (b. 1950), previously a construction worker, is a police officer third class for the municipality of Tinguipaya, Tom\u00e1s Fr\u00edas province. The police station does not have a phone, car or typewriter. 2005.
\n \"ARodolfo Villca Flores (b. 1958) is chief supervisor of market and sanitary services of the municipality of Betanzos, Cornelio Saavedra province. Previously he worked as a bricklayer, electrician, plumber and handyman. 2005. \"AYao Hong Yu is the vice director of the publicity office in Tianping (about 1 million inhabitants) in Daiyue District, Tai\u2019an City. She is responsible for promoting the policies and initiatives of the local government, as well as managing public information and media relations. 2007. \"TwoColombia, 2011. Clerks at Cartagena\u2019s Juzgado 2 Penal del Circuito expedite proceedings under the now-abolished Code of Criminal Procedure (Law\u202f600), which applies to crimes committed before 2005.\u2028 \"ARoger Vacher (b. 1957) is a narcotics agent with the national police force in Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dome department, Auvergne region. 2006. \"ASushma Prasad (b. 1962) is an assistant clerk at the Cabinet Secretary of the State of Bihar (population 83 million) in The Old Secretariat in the state capital, Patna. She was hired \u201con compassionate grounds\u201d because of the death of her husband, who until 1997 worked in the same department. 2004. \"ThreeSeated is Jawed Hayat, a literate constable in Thakurganj, Kishanganj district. Standing are three regular constables. 2003. <\/p>\n

The result is a subtle dialogue between the roles of the office as a formal, performative representation of government authority, and as the civil servant\u2019s private (work) space. At once an anthropological study and a work of visual poetry, Bureaucratics offers an ironic yet humane exploration of the administrative machineries that govern our societies while remaining largely invisible \u2014 and the individuals who sustain them.<\/p>\n

Banning used medium-format cameras, starting with a Bronica SQ-Ai, later a Fuji GX-680III, and finally a Hasselblad H5. <\/p>\n

\"AMajor Adolph Dalaney (b. 1940) works in the Reconstruction Room of the Traffic Police at the Liberia National Police Headquarters in the capital Monrovia. 2006. \"AMozambique, 2002. Carlos Roska is secretario do posto administrativo (Administrative secretary) of Boila-Nametoria, with 3,857 inhabitants (in 2001). \"AMozambique, 2002. Duarte Xavier is adjunct-superintendente, commandante de la 1a squadra\u201d of police in Maputo. He commands around 100 men (the exact number is \u201ca secret\u201d). \"ASergej Michailovich Osipchuk (b. 1974) is the lone police officer in the village of Oktyabrsky (some 2000 inhabitants), Tomsk province. He does not have a police car or one of his own, not even a bicycle. Siberia, Russia. 2004. \"AKakira Police Station, Jinja Town. PC (Police Constable) # 11431, Ndalira John (age 54). Uganda. 2010. \"ALaw and Order, Uganda, 2013. Kirinya Main Prison, Uganda\u2019s 2nd max security prison, in Jinja. Convicts 898, Remand 24, total 922. Prison was built for 336 inmates. Ivan Niwamanya (29), function: Chief Jailor. Rank: Principal Officer II. He is also judge when conflicts among inmates have to be settled.
\n \"ALaw and Order, Uganda, 2013, Kampala. Archive of the Chief Magistrate\u2019s Court (Buganda Road), handling criminal cases for Central Kampala. Completed cases. \"TexasRudy Flores (b. 1963) is one the 118 Texas Rangers state law enforcement officers, who cover 254 counties between them. He is based in Palestine, Anderson County, Texas. 2007. \"AMarty Stein is council agenda director for the city of Houston (population over 2 million), Texas. 2007. \"ANadja Ali Gayt (b. 1969) is an adviser at the Ministry of Agriculture s education center for rural women in the district of Manakhah, Sana Governorate. 2006. <\/p>\n

\u201cReceiving permission to shoot portraits of bureaucrats is in itself an achievement, when you consider the countries they decided to visit: India, Yemen, Bolivia and others,\u201d Martin Parr writes in the book\u2019s foreword. \u201cI would not know where or how to start. So they get the go-ahead, and then Banning shoots many portraits, the best of which we see here.\u201d <\/p>\n

Bureaucratics Revisited is available via Banning\u2019s website<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Image creditsPhotographs by Jan Banning<\/p>\n

Affiliate Disclosure PetaPixel articles may include affiliate links; we may earn a commission if you buy through one. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sushma Prasad (b. 1962) is an assistant clerk at the Cabinet Secretary of the State of Bihar (population…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":889472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":["post-889471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=889471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/889472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=889471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=889471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=889471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}