Bureaucracy exists almost everywhere, but step inside the offices where it actually happens, and the similarities quickly give way to striking differences. Desks, filing cabinets, portraits of political leaders, religious symbols, certificates, family photographs, and stacks of paperwork can reveal almost as much about a country as the officials sitting among them. Photographer Jan Banning explored exactly that idea with “Bureaucratics,” a long-running project documenting civil servants and government officials in their everyday workplaces around the world. Rather than focusing on politicians or imposing government buildings, Banning photographed the unelected officials who put laws and policies into practice, from administrators to police officers, and the environments where they do that work.
The project first appeared as the photobook “Bureaucratics,” edited by British photographer Martin Parr and published by Nazraeli Press in 2008. It featured 50 photographs taken between 2003 and 2007 in eight countries across five continents, selected to represent different political, historical, and cultural circumstances. The book went through four print runs, all of which eventually sold out. Nearly two decades later, Banning has returned to the work with Bureaucratics Revisited. The expanded 2026 edition extends the project to 12 countries and includes previously unpublished photographs, images from his earlier The Office series in Mozambique, and a new essay reflecting on the project from the present. Keep that in mind as you view the photographs below. The job titles, positions, salaries, and other details in the individual captions refer to when each photograph was taken and should not be taken as current information.
Scroll down to explore Banning’s portraits and take a close look at the spaces surrounding their subjects. Sometimes the most revealing part of an office is not the person behind the desk, but what has accumulated on the walls, shelves, and filing cabinets around them - or the absence thereof.
