Brendan Bannon

Brendan Bannon is a photographer and teacher based between New York and Nairobi, Kenya. Bannon's work has appeared in The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, The Daily Telegraph, the Independent, the Guardian, Monocle Magazine, KWANI?,  and other international publications. His projects have been exhibited internationally at UN headquarters in New York, at Chautauqua Institution's VACI galleries, the Burchfield Penney Art Center, and the Quick Center for the Arts.

His educational projects include Daily Dispatches, an innovative daily journalism and public art project made collaboratively with colleges in the USA. Dispatches featured a story a day from Nairobi beamed across the world, printed and shared in public space on American college campuses. Another  project, Do You See What I See?, is an arts education initiative conducted through UNHCR for children in refugee camps, giving them voice and an opportunity to share stories through their own photography and writing.

Brendan Bannon's interest in photography was sparked by his mother, an amateur photographer with a darkroom in the bathroom, and his father, who placed him at age 10 in front of drawers of antique photographs and asked him to select the interesting ones for an exhibition on the history of photography.

During his 20's Bannon ran a house painting business and took care of his mother who had multiple sclerosis, an experience he credits with informing his approach to photography. "I don't shy away from difficult stories. The experience of taking care of my mother showed me clearly that behind every moment of perceived suffering there is a profound victory over circumstances. I look at people's lives as being full of meaningful relationships, striving against the odds and achieving small victories."

Bannon also works regularly for International NGOs including Medecins Sans Frontieres, UNHCR, UNICEF and CARE International. (resource accessed June 5, 2025: https://brendanbannon.photoshelter.com/about/ )

An earlier profile:

Brendan Bannon is an internationally exhibiting photographer, with work presently on view in La Triennale di Milano, curated by Massimiliano Gioni, Associate Director and Director of Exhibitions of The New Museum in New York. His work was included in an exhibition about Dadab, the largest refugee camp in Africa, just closed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Other recent exhibition venues include the United Nations headquarters in New York, Geneva, and Nairobi; the Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Chautauqua Institution, CEPA, and the Burchfield Penney Art Center, which was among other college museums across the nation to show his daily dispatches from Nairobi. Bannon’s work is regularly sponsored by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF, and the International Rescue Commission. He teaches in Kings College, London, NYU, and SUNY at Buffalo; the latter sponsored in part by Jewish Family Services. His work is published by The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, The Guardian, Time, and London Daily Telegraph.

Brendan Bannon divides his time between Nairobi, Kenya and the U.S. Among the subjects he has covered are gold mining in Congo, piracy in Somalia, HIV/AIDS healthcare throughout Africa, and daily life in Kenya. He has also worked on projects in Eastern Europe, India, and the United States.