The plodding and somewhat regressive bureaucrat. These are the subjects of Jan Banning’s portraits, drawn from trips to Bolivia, India, Central Asia and other places.

I admire the pictures for their composition, but despise them for the effort they imply: the bureaucrats are shown posed behind their desks, stiff backed and waiting for a request to be opposed or denied.

There may be signs of modernity, like a solar calculator or a large bakelite phone, but the overwhelming imagery is of large bulky furniture, a traditionally built space in some form of disrepair, and a process that is largely dictated by paper documents and personal relationships.

That may be reality, but I don’t have to like it.