Jonas Bendiksen photo exhibit in Washington DC

The Places We Live is a collection of the voices and reflections of some of the people living in the world’s fastest-growing human habitat—slums. These are the places we live.

The National Building Museum is the first United States venue for The Places We Live. The exhibition opened in 2008 at the Nobel Peace Center and will travel next to cities in Europe and Asia.

“The neighborhoods pictured in the exhibition are some of the densest and poorest places on earth. My goal was to capture the vast range of ways their inhabitants experience their surroundings—from the destitute to the ambitious and surprising,” said Bendiksen.

Jonas Bendiksen was born in Norway in 1977. He began his photography career at 19 in Magnum Photo’s London office. He then became an independent photojournalist and worked extensively in Russia. Bendiksen’s works have been featured in international publications including National Geographic, Newsweek, Geo, TIME, and the Sunday Times Magazine. He has won numerous awards including the Infinity Award from the International Center of Photography, first prize in Pictures of the Year International Awards, and a National Magazine Award for his documentary of slum-life in Kibera published in the Paris Review.