Jewish Museum London is now delivering our learning programmes and collections displays in the community & around the UK. Come and visit us at Swiss Cottage Library from 7 March to 4 April.

JEW. Photographs by John Offenbach

15 November 2019 - 20 July 2020

‘JEW. Photographs by John Offenbach’ features 33 large-scale portraits and brings together the diverse faces of Jewish people from myriad walks of life, dispelling the myth that there is just one type of Jew. The project was borne after Offenbach travelled the world to capture the Jewish identity across 12 different countries, from Ethiopia to Ukraine, and Argentina to China.

Each portrait is titled not by the sitter’s name, but by their occupation or circumstances, for example, ‘Spy’, ‘Refuse Collector’ and ‘Nobel Laureate’. Through these titles, Offenbach hopes to normalise the identities of Jewish people across the spectrum of life.

His portraits challenge the contemporary, hateful propaganda of uncomfortable recent history, whilst contributing to a vital story of Jewish representation in the arts and posing urgent questions about identity and belonging that are pertinent to all of us.

This exhibition can be viewed in our Welcome Gallery on the Ground Floor, which is free of charge.

‘JEW. Photographs by John Offenbach’ coincides with the launch of the book by the same name, which features the complete collection of photographs Offenbach took on his travels across the globe. This book won first place at the International Photo Awards 2019 in the category of ‘Books-People’.

John Offenbach is a renowned photographer with a career spanning 25 years. He has worked on high-profile campaigns with global brands including American Express, Air France and Volkswagen. He is also included in the World’s Top 200 photographers compiled by Lurzers Magazine.

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