Nina Berman
# Nina Berman

Nina Berman (born 1960) is an American documentary photographer, filmmaker, author and educator. Her wide-ranging work looks at American politics, militarism, environmental contamination and post violence trauma. Berman is the author of three monographs: Purple Hearts – Back From Iraq; Homeland; and An autobiography of Miss Wish.

Her photographs and videos have been exhibited in the Brooklyn Museum, Dublin Contemporary 2011 and the 2010 Whitney Museum of American Art Biennial. She is the recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts grant, several photojournalism awards, including two World Press Photo awards and a Hasselblad award.

## Early life and education

Berman was born in New York City. She received an A.B. from the University of Chicago and a M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

## Work

She is a member of the NOOR photo agency and an associate professor at Columbia University. She is a former teacher at the International Center of Photography in New York City.

In 2005, Berman received the first Open Society Institute documentary distribution grant and traveled to high schools around the USA with Army veteran Robert Acosta presenting and exhibiting the Purple Hearts project. Her work with high school students continued in 2010 in collaboration with the Whitney Museum of American Art as an artist in residence with the museum's Youth Insights program. In 2011, Berman developed a high school art curriculum with the Whitney Museum of American Art based on her images of wounded American veterans from the Iraq War and her Homeland series. In 2009, Berman became a member of the NOOR photo agency based in Amsterdam. In 2012, she became an associate professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

## Publications

### Monographs

* Purple Hearts – Back from Iraq. London: Trolley, 2004.
* Homeland. London: Trolley, 2008.
* An autobiography of Miss Wish. Heidelberg, Germany: Kehrer, 2017.

### Catalogues/books

* Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know, Roy Gutman, David Rieff, Norton, 1999.
* Humans Being: Disability in Contemporary Art, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, 2006.
* War Stories, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, 2008.
* The Pursuit of Happiness, Stitching Fotografie, Noorderlicht, 2009.
* A History of Women Photographers, Naomi Rosenblum, Abbeville Press Publishers, New York, 2010.
* A New American Photographic Dream: US Today After, Gilles Verneret, Silvana Editoriale, Milan, 2010.
* Whitney Biennial 2010, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2010.
* Disquieting Images, Germano Celant /Melissa Harris, Skira, Milan, 2011.
* Ugliness: A Reconsideration, I.B. Tauris, London, 2012.
* Photographs Not Taken, Will Steacy, Daylight Books, 2012.
* Making History, RAY Fotografieprojekte, Frankfurt, 2012.
* Bosnia - 1992-1995, Jon Jones and Gary Knight, Sarajevo, 2012.
* War/Photography: Images of Armed Conflict and its Aftermath, Anne Wilkes Tucker, MFAH, USA, 2012.
* Photojournalists on War: The Untold Stories from Iraq, Mike Kamber, University of Texas, 2013.
* Trolleyology, Gigi Giannuzzi/Hannah Watson, Trolley, London, 2013.

## Exhibitions

* 2005: Purple Hearts at Moving Walls, Open Society Institute, New York City
* 2007: Jen Bekman Gallery, New York City
* 2008: Visa Pour L'Image, Perpignan, France
* 2008: War Stories, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston
* 2009: Gage Gallery, Roosevelt University, Chicago
* 2009: War Ltd, Purple Hearts, Dubrovnik, Croatia
* 2010: US Today After, IUFM Confluences, Lyon, France
* 2010: Biennial 2010, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City
* 2010: Disquieting Images, Milano Triennale Milan, Italy
* 2011: Noorderlicht Photo Festival, Metropolis, Groningen, The Netherlands
* 2011: Gemak Museum, Generation 9-11 The Hague, The Netherlands
* 2011: Changes, Halle 14, Leipzig, Germany
* 2011: Dublin Contemporary 2011, Dublin, Ireland
* 2012: Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York in Color, New York, USA
* 2012: Weatherspoon Art Museum, To What Purpose? Photography as Art and Document, Greensboro, USA
* 2012: Helsinki Photography Biennial, Helsinki, Finland
* 2012: Bronx Documentary Center, Bronx Gardens, Bronx, NY, USA
* 2012: RAY 2012, Frankfurt, Germany
* 2012: John Michael Kohler Arts Center, The Kids Are All Right, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, USA
* 2012: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, War/Photography: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath, Houston, USA
* 2012: Honolulu Museum of Art, Courage and Strength, Honolulu, USA
* 2012: Portland Art Museum, Flesh and Bone: Photography and the Body, Portland, OR, USA
* 2013: Denver Month of Photography - Red Line Gallery, The Reality of Fiction, Denver, USA
* 2013: Po Kim Art Gallery War is for the Living, New York City, USA
* 2013: Annenberg Space for Photography, War/Photography: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath, Los Angeles, USA
* 2013: Maison de la Photographie - Robert Doisneau, Solutions by NOOR', Gentilly, France
* 2013: Corcoran Gallery of Art, War/Photography: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath, Washington D.C. USA
* 2013: Center for Photography at Woodstock, Marcellus Shale Documentary Project, Woodstock, NY, USA
* 2013: Noorderlicht, To Have and Have Not, Groningen, The Netherlands
* 2013: Photoville Fractured: the Shale Play, Brooklyn, New York, USA
* 2013: Zacheta National Gallery of Art, In God We Trust, Warsaw, Poland
* 2013: Brooklyn Museum, War/Photography: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath, Brooklyn, NY USA
* 2014: Manchester Art Gallery The Sensory War: 1914-2014, Manchester, UK
* 2014: Palmer Art Museum, Marcellus Shale Documentary Project, State College, PA, USA
* 2014: Le Musee des Beaux-Arts Putain de Guerre: 1914- 2014, Charleroi, Belgium
* 2014: Portland Art Museum, Blue Sky at 40, Portland, Oregon, USA

## Awards

* 1987: Finalist, Livingston Award
* 1993: Pictures of the Year Award
* 1997: Pictures of the Year Award
* 1998: Pictures of the Year Award
* 1999: Pictures of the Year Award
* 2004: Third Prize (with two others) (along with four others), Days Japan International Photojournalism Awards.
* 2005: Open Society Institute Documentary Grant
* 2005: World Press Photo award
* 2006: New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship
* 2007: Pictures of the Year Award
* 2007: World Press Photo award (for her portrait "Marine Wedding" of Tyler Ziegel, a wounded Marine, and his bride)
* 2009: PDN Annual Book Award
* 2009: Hasselblad Masters Award
* 2014: The Josephine Herrick Project Annual Photographer Award
* 2016: The Aftermath Project Grant Award
* 2017: Susan E. Tifft fellow, Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University
