Jan Banning is a Dutch artist and photographer, born from Dutch East Indies parents. He studied social and economic history. Both these facts have strongly influenced his work, e.g. the choice of subjects and his intellectual approach. His projects often concern themes that have been neglected within the arts and are difficult to portray. Sometimes he uses a comparative approach, as in his acclaimed Bureaucratics, a study of government bureaucracies in eight countries; or in Law&Order, comparing criminal justice in four countries. In close-up portrait series such as (Indonesian) Comfort WomenandTraces of War: Survivors of the Burma and Sumatra Railways, he delves into long-term war consequences;in‘ Down and Out in the South, he focuses on the psychological impact of homelessness.Among Banning’ s many awards is a World Press Photo Award. His work has been widely published in books and magazines and is in collections such as the High Museum of Art Atlanta, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
