Bureaucrats

[danalwyn]

For the interested, a fascinating photo collection from Jan Banning, made up of photos of bureaucrats in their offices around the world, giving you a glimpse into what life is actually like in those countries. There are a lot of contrasts in there, from the clutter of paper in the Indian offices, to the profusion of color in the Bolivian ones, and the stark bareness of the Liberian offices looted during the civil war.

Gallery here

(There's some minor NSFW in at least one of the backgrounds).

Comments

[silverjackal]

That was very interesting, and I actually came away with a greater impression of commonality rather than the reverse. The Bolivian photos also made me smile, because yes, very Bolivian.

[danalwyn]

I think they are so common they are practically the same; they all sit in small offices behind desks where sometimes people will come in and shout at them for a few hours about things they can do nothing about. Sometimes those people are probably their bosses. But I do think that the national character, or at least the national funding level, clearly shows through in those pictures.

Unfortunately so does the reputation of a certain country as being so geographically challenged that they must constantly surround themselves with images, replicas and facsimiles of their country's flag so that they do not forget where they are.