In Tuomo Manninen’s group portraits, the subjects are still and looking steadily into the lens. There is an acute awareness of the camera – shots that have been composed perfectly and poses that have been chosen carefully. The photos that result are an intermingling of documentary and dramatization.

Manninen, a photographer from Helsinki, Finland, has been taking these striking group portraits since 1995 in a host of countries. The persons Manninen photographs are aware of the act of be-ing photographed and take an active role in the composition of the photograph. There is no criti-cism of the reality that they portray, both photographer and subjects. On the contrary: the expressions of his subjects convey professional pride in the work that they do, whether they are barbers or butchers, scouts or Santas.

The dynamics at play in Manninen’s photographs are distinctly between the individual and the group. The group shapes and creates the identity of each individual while at the same time, eras-ing the distinct characteristics of its individual members. This inner tension in the group, between the ‘me’ and the ‘we’, is emphasized in each photograph through Manninen’s artistic method. Manninen positions the persons portrayed among the objects and places that identify them as part of a group. But he seems to suggest that membership in a particular group can never provide an exhaustive description of a human being – the ‘we’ of any particular group always excludes an untold ‘me’.

Since starting the ‘Me/We’ series in Kathmandu in 1995, Manninen has photographed groups in Riga, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Lisbon, Hamburg, Odense, Ho Chi Minh City, Tønder, Paris, Ha-vana, Recklinghausen, Johannesburg, Ramallah and Phnom Penh.