Jan Banning is a Dutch independent photographic artist, based in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
He was born in Almelo (Netherlands) on May 4, 1954, from Dutch East Indies parents, and he studied social and economic history at the Radboud University of Nijmegen. Both of these facts have had a strong influence on his photographic works.
His roots are reflected in several of his subjects, such as in ‘Comfort Women’: Indonesian women who were forced to serve as sex slaves for the Japanese military during the Second World War; also in ‘Traces of War: Survivors of the Burma and Sumatra Railways’, about former forced labourers in South East Asia during that same period; the repatriation of elderly Moluccans from the Netherlands to the Indonesian Moluccas in ‘Pulang’.
representation: gallery & agencies
Gallery
Gallery Fontana represents Jan Banning’s art work.
Website: fontanagallery.com
Email: joris@fontanagallery.com
Telephone: + 31 20 7370597
Exhibitions Agent
Tina Keck
Website: tinakeck.de
Email: mail@tinakeck.de
Telephone: +49 177 5613240
Personal Agent –
Maartje Wildeman
Website: https://www.maartjewildeman.nl
Email: maartjewildeman@chello.nl
Print Media
For print media, his work is represented by the agencies:
Panos (London, UK)
De Beeldunie (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Study of history
His academic study is expressed in the historical components of his subject matter and in his determination to achieve sound intellectual foundations for his projects through thorough research. De Volkskrant reviewer Merel Bem wrote: ‘Each subject that Banning approaches (…), the photographer dives right in with the passion of a academic’; and ‘This investigative approach might be an explanation for the fact that the form is a direct, concentrated and controlled result from the content’ (in De Volkskrant 8-5-2010, review of ‘Comfort Women’).
His academic background also shows in his often conceptual approach and his regular use of the typological method (visual research in which he looks for variations within a tightly repeated form). Jean Dykstra wrote (in Art on Paper, Sept/Oct. 2008): ‘Borrowed from the methodology of science, it allows for differences to emerge within a category of similar things.’
Social focus
Power, justice and (in)equality are central to Banning’s work. The social political environment is put at the fore and it often concerns subjects that have been neglected within the arts and are difficult to visualise: political systems; criminal justice; colonialism’s heritage; long-term consequences of war. Sometimes the work is the result of a sociological or anthropological classifying approach, such as ‘Bureaucratics’, a comparative study of the world of government officials in eight countries worldwide; or Law&Order, which compares criminal justice systems in Colombia, France, Uganda and the USA. Other times he focuses more on psychological impact that major social or individual events have had on individuals (‘Comfort Women’, ‘Traces of War’, ‘Down and Out in the South’, The Verdict).
His portraits are always respectful and warmhearted. But irony is also one of his weapons: e.g. in ‘Bureaucratics’; or in ‘The Sweating Subject’, a mocking take on colonial photography as well as on its heir, present-day western journalism. Or, in a more subtle way, in Red Utopia, about the remnants of communist parties in five countries.
His projects often have a personal point of departure, but are never ‘private’: he places the subjects that stem from his private life in a larger social context. To give an example: the history of Banning’s father and grandfather during WWII is not only limited to something biographical about two family members, but is broadened into a visual and textual research into the long-term influence of WWII experiences on European and Asian former forced labourers (in ‘Traces of War’).
Artivism
Over time, his activist tendencies have grown ever stronger: he no longer does he content himself with documenting abuses and injustices, but he aims at using his artwork to try and bring about concrete changes, as in the case of the book (and exhibition) ‘The Verdict: The Christina Boyer Case’ (Het oordeel: De zaak Christina Boyer’), which he describes as a work of artivism.
Museums, exhibitions, print media
Banning’s art work has been acquired by museums such as the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; the Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA; the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, NL; the Centraal Museum, Utrecht, NL; and Museum De Fundatie, Zwolle, NL.
His photo series have been published in print media such as Newsweek (US and Japan), Time, The New Yorker, The Guardian, GEO (France, Germany, and International), l’Espresso, Sunday Times Magazine, Vrij Nederland, Days Japan and many others.
Banning is fluent in Dutch, English, German and Spanish, and speaks French reasonably well. He is living in the Dutch city of Utrecht.
selected bibliography
Among the many publications written about Banning and his work are those in the magazines Whitewall Magazine (Spring 2009), Photonews (December 2008), Art on Paper (September/October 2008), and Photo District News (February 2007). Kennis is geluk (book by Joost Zwagerman, 2012), Atlanta Celebrates Photography Festival Guide 2012 (Felicia Feaster). Meekijken over de schouder van Jan Banning, Fotodok online publication by Eefje Blankevoort.
lectures, workshops & and presentations
- In English
- CNN/Turner, Atlanta GA, USA, October 19, 2012
- Contemporary Art Center Kulanshi, Astana, Kazachstan, 2011
- Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK, 22 February 2012, 17.30, Research Forum South Room: Bureaucratics and Other Unorderly Subjects
- Erasmushuis, Jakarta, Indonesia, 2010
- Galerie Etagi Loft Project, St Petersburg, Russia, 2010
- IDHEAP, Institut de hautes études en administration publique (Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration), Lausanne, Switzerland, September 18/19, 2012
- New York Photo Festival, NY City, USA, 2008
- Open Society Institute, NYC, USA, 2011
- University of South Carolina (College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Art), SC, USA, 2010 (Guest Teacher for 6 weeks)
- World Press Photo (workshop), Panna, Jakarta, Indonesia, 2006 and 2007
- In German
- Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Hamburg (HAW), Design Department, Hamburg, Germany, 2010
- Hochschule Würzburg-Schweinfurt, Design Department, Germany, 2011
- Max-Planck-Institut für europäische Rechtsgeschichte/Max-Planck-Institute for European Legal History, Frankfurt, Germany, 2011
- Photo + Art Book 2011, Hamburg, Germany, 2011
- Ostkreuzschule, Berlin, Germany, 2022
- In French
- Live Magazine, Paris, France, several years (written text)
- Live Magazine, Rencontres d'Arles, 2022 (written text)
- Live Magazine, Strassbourg, France, 2017 (written text)
- Festival Images Singulières, Sète, France, 2012 (improvised)
- In Spanish
- Cencrem, Havana, Cuba, 2007
- Museo Franz Mayer, Mexico City, Mexico, 2008
- In Dutch
- Jan Banning has held many Presentations, Gallery Talks, Opening Reception Talks etcetera in Dutch in his native Netherlands.
awards
- 2017
- Prize in the Zilveren Camera (2nd in category Foreign documentary series) for Red Utopia
- 2016
- Social Documentary Network Award (for Law&Order)
- 2011
- Bourse FNAC 2011
- Runner-Up in the 2011 Photography Contest of The Forward Looking Museum (Artist Level), New York, NY, USA
- Two prizes in the Zilveren Camera (1st in category Portraits, 3rd in Art, Culture and Entertainment)
- 2009
- Art of Photography Show (San Diego, CA) Award
- Nominated for the Santa Fe Prize for Photography (Santa Fe, NM)
- 2008
- VPRO Bob den Uyl Prijs (with author Dick Wittenberg), for the book Binnen is het donker, buiten is het licht
- 2007
- Lead Academy 2007 Certificate of Honor (most prestigious German award for printed and online media) for “Wir sind der Staat” (We Are The State), published in Cicero Magazine
- 2006
- Dick Scherpenzeel Fotografieprijs for photography focusing on the non-Western, developing world for Het gezicht van de armoede (see previous item)
- 2004
- World Press Photo 2004, Documentary Portrait Series, for the India chapter of the project Bureaucratics (see reference under Books)
- Prize of Prague 2004, for the India chapter of the project Bureaucratics (see reference under Books)
- 2003
- ICODO-Prijs for contributions to the understanding of the consequences of organized violence, including war, for the book Sporen van oorlog: Overlevenden van de Birma- en de Pakanbaroe-spoorweg (see reference under Books)
- 2002
- Dick Scherpenzeel Fotografieprijs for photography focusing on the non-Western, developing world for the Mozambique section of the project Bureaucratics (see reference under Books; this section was not included in the book by the same title)
- 2001
- Honorable Mention, Unicef Photo of the Year 2001, for the series Kinderen van de witte mist (Children of the White Mist) about the post-war consequences of the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War
- 1997
- ASN-ADO Mediaprijs for photography focusing on the multicultural society in The Netherlands for a series on a Dutch boxing club
- 1995
- Karel de Grote-prijs (Charlemagne Prize) from the city of Nijmegen for complete body of work
- Since 1988
- Ten awards and nominations in the De Zilveren Camera contest
This documentary will focus on the manner in which Jan works and lives and on his social focus. As Jan says himself: “Every photograph I make is the result of personal contact.” This film shows Jan’s method of working, his motives and his struggles and pain.