"John Offenbach's wonderful collection of portraits, boldly and bluntly entitled Jew, could not be more timely. In a period when antisemitism and racism are rife, when ignorance and prejudice prevail, here is a captivating tale of the unexpected. A portrait of Jewish people which defies cliché and stereotype. From Brooklyn to Azerbaijan, from the homeless to the homeland, all human life is here." Alan Yentob - BBC
Some years ago John Offenbach decided to embark on a series of portraits of Jews from different ethnicities, such as those from India and China and Ethiopia. Not just the great and the good, it had to include the homeless Jew, as well as the rich Jew. The incarcerated Jew, and the heroin addict.
Offenbach took inspiration from
People of the Twentieth Century, the series of portraits of German people of the 1920's by the Cologne-based photographer August Sander, but unlike Sander, he decided not to include the background or the setting for any of portraits, as he didn't want this collection to be documentary in style or intention; so, a weaver in Ethiopia is sitting in exactly the same light as a financier from Wall Street. Half way around the world to each other but surprisingly close.
Offenbach travelled to 12 countries, including Argentina, Azerbaijan, India, Ethiopia, China and Ukraine and took are approximately 120 black-and-white portraits of jews. The objective of the series is to look at Jewish faces and see the similarities and the differences. A snapshot of world Jewry today. On one level simply, that Jews come from all parts of society, and in all shapes and sizes.
