Enrich Me with Your Difference - photographic exhibition

To make a difference in the world always appears overwhelming as there is often a belief that our efforts will only go so far. What we have to recognise is that we are not alone in wanting to make a difference and by trying we may inspire others.

“Enrich me with your difference” is a photography exhibition by the award-winning humanitarian photographer, Jonathan Banks, that celebrates a career of working with charitable organisations.

Jonathan studied under the prolific artist John Blakemore and graduated from the University of Derby with a BA hons in Photographic Studies. He cut his teeth in editorial photography with the British broadsheet newspapers and also worked with a number of charitable organisations. Two decades later his humanitarian photography strives to raise awareness for the issues that charities are trying to resolve.  His photographs capture the work that they are doing, and often have the dual purpose of supporting advocacy for policy change and generating revenue for them.

His international experience includes working in security impaired areas, where his communication skills and sensitivity allow him to capture subjects with dignity and safety, in the most challenging situations.

Photography allows us the opportunity of sharing what we see, to show inaccessible places, people, and moments of time, allowing the viewer insights about situations they may not have personally encountered.

Jonathan’s photographs could be seen as a way of offering healing or reparation to those less fortunate. He is not just looking for sympathy, but rather engagement and empathy, by empowering the viewer with a belief that they can make a difference to the people and situations viewed in the photographs.

“Enrich me with your difference” is an old African proverb from Togo that translates as whenever you encounter something new - whether it is a person, place, or experience - you should combine all the differences with your knowledge, understanding and emotional response, to build

something positive.

About Jonathan Banks

Jonathan Banks is an award-winning British photographer with over twenty-five years of experience collaborating with charitable organisations and NGOs documenting important humanitarian campaigns with human rights concerns.

Banks has photographed in over eighty different countries, documenting subjects as diverse as mask dancing festivals in Burkina Faso, the effects of the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine, and the aftermath of 9/11 in New York. Banks’ photography regularly features in international editorial publications and is the visual content of several books. His photographs have been widely recognised by numerous awards including FOTO8, Humanity Photo Awards, The Sony World Photography awards, and the Siena International Photography Awards.

Banks has exhibited his photography globally with notable shows at United Nations in Geneva, The Phillips Collection in Washington DC, at the European Parliament in Brussels, on the Times Square screens in New York, as part of the Exposure Awards at the Louvre in Paris and at the “Beauty of Humanity” Art Basel festival in Miami.

Banks studied under the prolific artist John Blakemore and graduated from the University of Derby with a BA hons in Photographic Studies. He is now part of the mentorship alumni programme and supports the University in other ways with his work. Outside of this he has given artist talks and run workshops about his photography.

His work has been described by one critic as “responsible documentary photography that lacks the predatory or voyeuristic perspective that often plagues the genre.”

www.jonathanbanks.co.uk