Birmingham has been given the go-ahead to host the world’s first exhibition of portraits of President Barack Obama and his administration.

The exhibition by London-based photographer Nadav Kander, will premier at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery this month and feature the 52 portraits which currently only exist as a slideshow on the website of the New York Times, which posted them on January 20, the day of President Obama’s inauguration.

The images of leading men and women, were also published in a special magazine edition which immediately sold out and is now selling on auction site e-bay for $50.

Obama’s People exhibition has been brought to Birmingham by Rhonda Wilson MBE and her team Rhubarb-Rhubarb.

It was made possible by funding from Birmingham City Council, regional development agency Advantage West Midlands and a consortium of partners set up to support the project including UKTI, Staffordshire University, Idea Generation, Heavy Object Design and All Trade Printers, with support from Marketing Birmingham.

Rhonda, who contacted the photographer to enquire about the show after seeing the images online, said: “Though being first with this particular project is hugely significant, it’s about other things too – the fit with the diversity of Birmingham and West Midlands, the power of photography to evidence possibility and political change at this historic moment and the opportunity for thousands of people to see this aspirational project, furthering Birmingham’s ambition to be an international centre for creative excellence”.

She added: “The exhibition will run throughout the summer, during school holidays and the tourist season and will coincide with Rhubarb’s international portfolio review at the end of July.”

As well as the 52 portraits of Obama’s administration team, including 17 life size images including Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and Rahm Emanuel, White House Chief of Staff, the exhibition will feature a ‘Corridor of Power,’ a row of images of Washington monuments taken at night illuminated by lightboxes.

* The exhibition will run between April 18 and August 31.