Photos of Bureaucrats From All Over the World

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Photos of Bureaucrats From All Over the World


A woman sits at a desk covered in documents, surrounded by tall wooden cabinets stacked high with piles of paper files.
Sushma 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 “on compassionate grounds” because of the death of her husband, who until 1997 worked in the same department. 2004.

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.

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.

Over the course of five years and across eight countries, Banning trained his lens on the largely unnoticed human face of bureaucracy.

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.

A middle-aged priest with a beard sits at a desk in his office, which is decorated with religious icons, a crucifix, and vestments.
Don Albino d’Orlando 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.
A man in a military uniform sits behind a wooden desk labeled "Director Provincial Tingipaya" in a room decorated with portraits, a flag, and posters.
Constantino Aya Viri Castro (b. 1950), previously a construction worker, is a police officer third class for the municipality of Tinguipaya, Tomás Frías province. The police station does not have a phone, car or typewriter. 2005.
A man in a hat sits at a wooden desk labeled "INTENDENTE BETANZOS" in an office with portraits of Simón Bolívar and Antonio José de Sucre on the wall.
Rodolfo 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.
A woman in a green jacket sits at a wooden desk in an office, with trophies and potted plants lined up on the windowsill behind her.
Yao Hong Yu is the vice director of the publicity office in Tianping (about 1 million inhabitants) in Daiyue District, Tai’an City. She is responsible for promoting the policies and initiatives of the local government, as well as managing public information and media relations. 2007.
Two women work at desks in an office cluttered with large, stacked piles of paper documents and shelves filled with files.
Colombia, 2011. Clerks at Cartagena’s Juzgado 2 Penal del Circuito expedite proceedings under the now-abolished Code of Criminal Procedure (Law 600), which applies to crimes committed before 2005.

A man sits at a desk in an office decorated with posters of Bob Marley, Bart Simpson, and cannabis-themed imagery.
Roger Vacher (b. 1957) is a narcotics agent with the national police force in Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dome department, Auvergne region. 2006.
A woman sits at a desk covered in documents, surrounded by tall wooden cabinets stacked high with piles of paper files.
Sushma 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 “on compassionate grounds” because of the death of her husband, who until 1997 worked in the same department. 2004.
Three uniformed police officers stand in an office with a man seated at a desk covered in paperwork and files.
Seated is Jawed Hayat, a literate constable in Thakurganj, Kishanganj district. Standing are three regular constables. 2003.

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’s 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 — and the individuals who sustain them.

Banning used medium-format cameras, starting with a Bronica SQ-Ai, later a Fuji GX-680III, and finally a Hasselblad H5.

A police officer sits at a desk writing in a logbook in front of a chalkboard displaying a traffic diagram and a Bible verse.
Major Adolph Dalaney (b. 1940) works in the Reconstruction Room of the Traffic Police at the Liberia National Police Headquarters in the capital Monrovia. 2006.
A man wearing a patterned cap and light-colored shirt sits at a wooden desk in a sparsely furnished room with a tall wooden cabinet.
Mozambique, 2002. Carlos Roska is secretario do posto administrativo (Administrative secretary) of Boila-Nametoria, with 3,857 inhabitants (in 2001).
A uniformed man sits at a desk in a sparsely furnished office, with a framed portrait of a man resting on a nearby cabinet.
Mozambique, 2002. Duarte Xavier is adjunct-superintendente, commandante de la 1a squadra” of police in Maputo. He commands around 100 men (the exact number is “a secret”).
A man in a Russian military uniform sits at a desk in front of a barred window.
Sergej 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.
A police officer in a uniform and beret sits at a wooden desk in a sparse office with handwritten signs and election posters on the wall.
Kakira Police Station, Jinja Town. PC (Police Constable) # 11431, Ndalira John (age 54). Uganda. 2010.
A person in a tan uniform and red beret sits at a desk writing in a notebook against a weathered wall with a calendar and clock.
Law and Order, Uganda, 2013. Kirinya Main Prison, Uganda’s 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.
A dense, floor-to-ceiling archive of paper files and documents stacked on metal shelving units and piled directly on the floor.
Law and Order, Uganda, 2013, Kampala. Archive of the Chief Magistrate’s Court (Buganda Road), handling criminal cases for Central Kampala. Completed cases.
Texas Ranger W. R. Flores sits at his desk in an office decorated with western memorabilia, framed photos, and a large metal Texas-shaped sign.
Rudy 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.
A woman sits at a cluttered desk in an office, surrounded by stacks of papers, office supplies, a computer, and various decorative items.
Marty Stein is council agenda director for the city of Houston (population over 2 million), Texas. 2007.
A person wearing a black niqab and abaya sits at a blue metal desk with an open book in a sparsely furnished room.
Nadja 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.

“Receiving 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,” Martin Parr writes in the book’s foreword. “I 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.”

Bureaucratics Revisited is available via Banning’s website.

Image creditsPhotographs by Jan Banning

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