Photographer Jan Banning traveled to 8 very different countries and dropped in unannounced at various bureaucratic offices. He captured the setting and now we can see his work.
“Bureaucratics is a comparative photographic study of the culture, rituals and symbols of state civil administrations and its servants in eight countries on five continents, selected on the basis of polical, historical and cultural considerations: Bolivia, China, France, India, Liberia, Russia, the United States, and Yemen.
In each country, I visited up to hundreds of offices of members of the executive in different services and at different levels.
The visits were unannounced and the accompanying writer, Will Tinnemans, by interviewing kept the employees from tidying up or clearing the office.
That way, the photos show what a local citizen would be confronted with when entering.” – Jan Banning
India
Bolivia
China
France
Liberia
Russia
USA
Yemen
Very interesting! Having visited several government offices on work myself, I vouch for all the mountains of dusty files in those images of Indian offices.
This post makes me want to visit government offices wherever I go! What would have been interesting if i had gone to a Belizian government office while in Belmopan. I can only imagine…
Wow what a diverse collection. something i never would have thought about Mani.
I know! The only thing I would wish was different is that I took the photos myself! 🙂
Fascinating 🙂 Thanks for the glimpse into spaces we definitely overlook in our travels!
How cool, what a unique topic! Love it
I totally had to share this on fb
Oh my gosh!!! FABULOUS PICTURES!!! I love India!!!! so funny!
I love posts like this where you can see how things are in other places.