Humanity under
lockdown

In a year when everyone stayed in, it’s life-affirming to see images of people defiantly looking outward. That’s the first impression of Portrait Of Humanity Vol 3, a book of portraits taken by different photographers around the world during 2020.

While the previous two instalments showed homo sapiens in all its strange beauty (and we are a very weird species), the pandemic provided a unique once-in-lifetime backdrop.

With 200 portraits featured, the book takes us on a multi-faceted, multi-cultural tour across the world. From child workers in Ghana to tattooed grandads in Bangkok; Finnish ecologists to new-born babies in Oxford, all human life is here. Often, because this is 2020 we’re talking about, wearing a mask.

But for writer Otegha Uwagba, who provides the book’s introduction, the Covid-19 pandemic makes the pictures even more poignant. She says: “Though this has undoubtedly been a year that many would rather forget, we must not forget it – because look closely at the images that follow, and you will see that they capture humanity in all its multifaceted beauty and fragility.”

Portrait Of Humanity, Vol 3 is published by Hoxton Mini Press, priced £22.95/$31.95/€27.95

hoxtonminipress.com