John Offenbach

Biography

  • John Offenbach is a London based Photographer with both a commercial and artistic practice.

  • John has won several awards for his commercial practice. He has been included in Communication Arts, D&AD, American Photography, New York Photo Awards, Photo District News and Creative Review’s The Annual, as well as a number of AOP Annuals, six of which have been awarded silver and Graphis Magazine, seven of which were awarded gold.

  • In 2019 a four year project entitled, Jew comprising of 120 portraits of jews from 12 countries around the world, was published by Skira Editore in Milan.

  • In July 2019 the book Jew won first prize in the category Book-People, at the IPA (International Photography Awards) in New York.

  • Press from the book and exhibition Jew, included in BBC News, Financial Times, South China Morning Post, Financial Times and the Evening Standard.

  • In 2023 John returned to academia to study for two masters degrees at the Royal College of Art, London.

  • Royal College of Art degree show, Palimpsest recipient of The Genesis Imaging Bursary Award, 2024.

  • Palimpsest special mention selected by Source Magazine, Graduate Photography, 2024.

  • In September 2009 John successfully swam across the English Channel in a team of four swimmers raising money for Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund and in 2014 swam with the same team around Manhattan, New York.

Exhibitions

  • Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, Gimpo, South Korea, 2025. Abstract Mind. Selected work from Palimpsest.

  • The Big Picture, Colorado, 2025. Selected work from, Jew.

  • Seoul Hall of Urban Architecture, Seoul 2024. Selected works from Serpentine Pavilion, group show.

  • Royal College of Art, London 2024, degree show, Palimpsest.

  • Jewish Museum, London, 2019. Selected work, Jew.

  • Rena Bransten gallery, San Francisco, June 2002 selected works from Architecture.

  • Frederieke Taylor Gallery, New York, 2002, selected works from Architecture, exhibited in a joint show with American sculptor Jackie Ferrara.

  • Fredereike Taylor Gallery, in New York, 2001 selected works from Architecture, group show


Hana Kaluznick, Curator Photography, V&A, London

  • While I doubtless would not understand how it is possible to extract a grain of silver from a photographic negative, it is a captivating thing to contemplate! It is important to reflect on the fact that photographs are impermanent objects, destined to fade away over time, and the formalised abstraction of this project forces us to think about this in a juxtaposed and creative way. There was also something fascinating to me about the repeated action of extraction and how this links to memory – the light sensitive silver having now been extracted twice, once from earth and once from the negative, now being intertwined with concrete, another substance which relies on extractive processes but that will far outlast any silver-based image.