British photographer Brock Elbank has spent much of his career creating portraits of people whose faces, bodies, and life experiences challenge the narrow ideas of appearance we are used to seeing in mainstream imagery. From freckles and vitiligo to scars, birthmarks, disabilities, and life-changing injuries, his work places individuality firmly at the center of the frame. Bored Panda has featured Elbank’s distinctive portraiture before, and his approach remains immediately recognizable. Subjects are often photographed against simple backgrounds, with little to distract from their expressions, skin, and features. Rather than smoothing away the details that make someone stand out, Elbank gives viewers an opportunity to really look at them, and, more importantly, at the person they belong to.
That interest in the person behind what we immediately see is also driving one of Elbank’s newest and most personal projects: homelessness. The idea began developing after the COVID-19 pandemic, when Elbank noticed the number of people experiencing homelessness in London. In late 2024, he began trying to better understand their everyday circumstances and challenges. He is now traveling around Britain and photographing people who have experienced many different forms of homelessness, not only sleeping on the street, but also staying on friends’ couches, living in cars, tents, or abandoned buildings, sleeping at workplaces, and finding shelter wherever they could. Elbank hopes eventually to create 101 portraits for the series and exhibit the completed work in Liverpool. His goal is both to challenge assumptions about who can become homeless and to share stories from people who have managed to rebuild their lives, offering a reminder that homelessness does not have one face, one cause, or one experience.
We also reached out to Elbank to learn more about what drives his work and how his new project fits into it. So scroll down to learn more about his past projects, read the full interview, explore a selection of his work over the years, and let us know which portraits stayed with you the most.
More info: Instagram | mrelbank.com
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