Join renowned photographer John Offenbach, and Sotheby's Head of Photographs, Brandei Estes, as they talk about Offenbach's award-winning book 'Jew' . Exploring the themes of identity and peoplehood, a strong theme of the festival of Pesach.

The book is made up of 120 portraits of Jewish people of different ethnicities from all over the world. Each portrait is titled not by the sitter’s name, but by their occupation or circumstances, for example: Spy, Rape Victim, Nobel Laureate, Refuse Collector etc.  Not just the great and the good, it had to include the homeless Jew, as well as the rich Jew. The incarcerated Jew as well as the law abiding Jew, the religious and the secular. Through this work, Offenbach hopes to normalise the identities of Jewish people across the spectrum of life. 

"John Offenbach’s wonderful collection of portraits, boldly and bluntly entitled Jew, could not be more timely. In a period when antisemitism and racism are rife, when ignorance and prejudice prevail, here is a captivating tale of the unexpected. A portrait of Jewish people which defies cliché and stereotype. From Brooklyn to Azerbaijan, from the homeless to the homeland, all human life is here."  Alan Yentob, BBC

This is an intensely mesmerising and important collection of photographs. I find myself looking and saying, not without emotion, ‘my people.’' Stephen Fry