Nina Berman

Nina Berman is a documentary photographer, filmmaker, journalist and educator.  Her work explores American politics, militarism, environmental issues and post violence trauma.  She is the author of Purple Hearts – Back from Iraq, (Trolley, 2004) portraits and interviews with wounded American veterans, Homeland, (Trolley, 2008) an examination of the militarization of American life post September 11, and An autobiography of Miss Wish (Kehrer, 2017) a story told with a survivor of sexual violence which was shortlisted for both the Aperture and Arles book prizes. Additional fellowships, awards and grants include: the New York Foundation for the Arts, the World Press Photo Foundation, Pictures of the Year International, the Open Society Foundation, the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, the MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellowship and the Aftermath Project. She started her photographic career in 1988 as an independent photographer working on assignment for the world’s major magazines including Time, Newsweek, Life, the New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, German Geo, and the Sunday Times Magazine. She covered a range of issues, from women under siege during war in Bosnia and Afghanistan, to domestic issues of criminal justice, reproductive rights, and political process. Her work has been exhibited at more than 100 international venues from the Whitney Museum Biennial to the concrete security walls at the Za'atari refugee camp. Public collections include the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Museum of the City of New York, the Harvard Art Museums and the Bibliothèque nationale de France among others. She has participated in workshops around the world for young photographers and writes frequently on photojournalism for the Columbia Journalism Review.  She is a tenured Professor of Journalism at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where she directs the photojournalism/documentary photography program.

CV

Education
University of Chicago, B.A., Honors, 1982
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, M.S. 1985

Grants, fellowships, awards

 2022 Ploughshares Fund with Princeton University program on Science and Global Security 
 2021 MIT-Knight Foundation Fellowship in Science Journalism  
 2021 New York City Arts Grant
 2020 Humanities War and Peace Initiative, Columbia University
 2020/2019 Data, Media and Society/Columbia University
 2019 Deutsche Börse Foundation Photography Prize (long list)
 2018 Aperture/Paris Photo Book/Text Award, (shortlist)
 2018 Recontres d'Arles Book Award (shortlist)
 2018 Prix Pictet nomination
 2018 PDN Annual Book Award
 2017 Susan E. Tifft fellow in Documentary and Journalism
 2016 Lange Taylor Prize (finalist)
 2016 Aftermath Project Grant recipient
 2014 Blue Mountain Center focused residency
 2014 Society of Professional Journalists/ Northern California
 2014 The Josephine Herrick Project Annual Photographer Award
 2012 Puffin Foundation Grant
 2010 Whitney Museum of American Art Residency
 2009 Hasselblad Masters Award
 2009 PDN Annual Book Award
 2007 World Press Photo Foundation Award
 2007 Pictures of the Year Award
 2006 New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Fellowship
 2005 World Press Photo Foundation
 2005 Open Society Institute Documentary Grant
 2005 Days Japan International Photo Award
 2000 Communication Arts
1999 Pictures of the Year
1998 Emma Award
1998 Pictures of the Year
1997 Pictures of the Year Award
1993 Pictures of the Year Award
1987 Livingston Award, finalist

Monographs

An autobiography of Miss Wish, Kehrer Verlag, 2017
Homeland, Trolley, 2008
Purple Hearts - Back from Iraq, Trolley, 2004
 
Public and Private Collections

Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, USA
Bibliothèque Nationale de France
Centre national de l'audiovisuel (CNA), Luxembourg  
Harvard Art Museums, USA
Incite Project, UK
Library of Congress, USA
Liege-Musée des Beaux-Arts, Belgium
Musée de la Photographie, Belgium
Museum of Fine Arts Houston, USA
Museum of the City of New York, USA
Open Society Foundation, USA
Portland Art Museum, USA  
Side Gallery, UK
Smithsonian National Museum of American History, USA
Weatherspoon Art Museum, USA
Zimmerli Art Museum, USA

Exhibitions

2023
Museum of the City of New York, "This is New York," NYC
University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum,  "Poor People's Art: A (Short) Visual History of Poverty in the US," Tampa, FL
Monroe Gallery of Photography,  "Good Trouble," Santa Fe, NM

2022
 FotoMuseum den Haag, "Parents" The Hague, The Netherlands
 Monroe Gallery of Photography, "Imagine a World Without Photojournalism," Santa Fe, NM
 Bronx Documentary Center, "Storming of the Capitol," Bronx, NY, USA
 Bibliothèque nationale de France, "15 ans de l'agence NOOR," Paris, France

2021
 Harvard Art Museums, "Devour the Land: War and American Landscape Photography Since 1970," Cambridge, USA
 Southeast Museum of Photography "Conversations in Conflict Photography," Daytona Beach, FL, USA
 Musée de la Photographie, "NOOR/Pulse," Charleroi, Belgium
 Monroe Gallery of Photography, "Present Tense," Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

2020
 RIT City Arts Space, "Beyond Addiction/Reframing Recovery," Rochester, NY
 Melkweg Gallery, "J'existe," Amsterdam, The Netherlands
 Monroe Gallery of Photography, "Life on Earth," Santa Fe, NM

2019
 Image Singulières,  An autobiography of Miss Wish,"  Sete, France (solo)
 New York University Gallatin Gallery,  "Conversations on Conflict Photography," New York, USA
 University of Michigan,"Whose Streets, Our Streets," Ann Arbor, USA
 Monroe Gallery of Photography, "Living in History," Santa Fe, USA
 Parsons School of Design, "Beyond Addiction, Reframing Recovery,"  New York City, USA
 UC Berkeley Art Museum,  "The Goodman Photography Collection,"  Berkeley, USA
 Military Museums: Founders Gallery,  "Walled Off: The Politics of Containment,"  Calgary, Canada

2018
 Gallery Nova,  "An autobiography of Miss Wish, " Zagreb, Croatia (Solo)
 Museum of Broken Windows,  New York City, USA
 Museum of Natural History,  "Everyday Climate Change", Verona, Italy
 Harris Gallery RIT, "Whose Streets? Our Streets!",  Rochester, NY
 Cinema Galeries, "Unframed," Brussels, Belgium
 Athens Photo Festival, "Personal Notebooks"  Benaki Museum,  Athens, Greece
 Trout Gallery, Dickinson College, "Unloaded," Carlisle, PA, USA
 UGM/Maribor Art Gallery, "Vigilance, Struggle, Price: Through Her Eyes," Maribor, Slovenia

2017
 Mirbach Palace, "American Power and Myth 2002-2017, Bratislava, Slovakia (Solo)
 Centro Internazionale di fotografia, "Women photograph Women, " Palermo, Sicily
 Zimmerli Art Museum, "Partisan Views and Public Opinion, " New Brunswick, NJ, USA
 Czech Photo Center, “NOOR by NOOR, “ Prague, Czech Republic
 Prix Bayeux Calvados, "NOOR Forgotton Conflicts/Tomorrow's Conflicts, " Bayeux, France
 F³ Freiraum für Fotografie, "NOOR by NOOR", Berlin, Germany
 Photoville: Charlottesville and Beyond, Brooklyn, NY, USA
 NYU Tisch School of the Arts, “Reimagining A Safe Space, “NYC, USA
 Nathan Cummings Foundation, “Reimagining A Safe Space, “NY, USA
 Krakow Month of Photo: "The War From Here,", Krakow, Poland
 Paraty em Foco, "Resist by NOOR", Paraty, Brazil
 Minneapolis College of Art and Design, "Unloaded," Minneapolis, USA
 Institute of Contemporary Art, "Unloaded", Portland, ME, USA
 Marcia Wood Gallery, "Unloaded", Atlanta,  GA,
 Eyes on Main Street, Wilson, North Carolina, USA
 Museum of Yugoslav History, "Lessons of '91" Belgrade, Serbia
 Brandts Musuem, "In War and Peace", Odense, Denmark
 Bronx Documentary Center, "Whose Streets? Our Streets!" The Bronx, NY, USA
 University of Kentucky, Bolivar Art Gallery, "Unloaded," Lexington, KY, US      
2014
Musee de Beaux Arts, “Putain de Guerre”, Charleroi, Belgium
Manchester Art Gallery, The Sensory War, Manchester, UK
Portland Art Museum: Blue Sky at 40, Portland, Oregon, USA
Palmer Art Museum: Marcellus Shale Doc Project, State College, Pennsylvania, USA
Photoville 2014, Za'atari, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Art Works Projects: Slavery Uncovered, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Kunstmuseum Dieselkraftwerk, The Critical Camera, Cottbus, Germany
Francis Marion University, Purple Hearts,Florence, South Carolina, USA
Allegheny College, Marcellus Shale Doc Project, Meadville, PA, USA
Youngstown State University, "Marcellus Shale," Youngstown, USA
2012
Bronx Documentary Center, "Gardens", The Bronx, USA (Solo)
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) "War/Photography", Houston, USA
John Michael Kohler Arts Center "The Kids are All Right," Sheboygan, USA
Kunstverein-Tiergarten "The Critical Camera", Berlin, Germany
Honolulu Museum of Art, "Courage and Strength," Honolulu, USA
Pittsburgh Filmmakers, "Marcellus Shale, " PIttsuburgh, USA
Portland Art Museum, "Flesh and Bones," Portland, USA
Howard Greenberg Gallery, "New York in Color," NYC, USA
Ray 2012, "Obama Train," Frankfurt, Germany
Weatherspoon Art Museum, "Photography as Art and Document," Greensboro, USA
South Street Seaport Museum, "Occupy Wall Street," NYC, USA
Fovea Gallery, "Occupy," Beacon, USA
Getty Gallery, "Solutions", London, UK
Helsinki Biennial, "Urban and City:" Helsinki, Finland

2011
 Royal Society of Medicine, "Purple Hearts" London, UK (Solo)
 Dublin Contemporary, "Homeland/Marine Wedding", Dublin, Ireland (Solo)
 Halle 14, “Changes”, Leipzig, Nuremberg, Weimar, Germany
 GEMAK, "Generation 9-11", The Hague, The Netherlands
 Monroe Gallery of Photography, "Big Picture," Santa Fe, USA
 Montserrat College of Art, "For the Record", Beverly, USA
 Silver Eye Center for Photography, "HomeFrontLine, Pittsburgh, USA
 Noorderlicht " Metropolis", Groningen, The Netherlands
 German American Center, Stuttgart, Germany
 Canadian War Museum, "War and Medicine," Ottawa, Canada
  Ikono, "Noor" Brussels, Belgium
 10b, "Consequences by NOOR," Rome, Italy
 10b, "Solutions by NOOR," Rome, Italy
 Galerie Cerami, "Under the Bridge," Charlero, Belgium 
         
2010
 Whitney Museum of American Art, "Biennial 2010," New York, NY
 Melkweg Gallery, "Purple Hearts," Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Solo)
 Bernstein Gallery, "Purple Hearts," Princeton University, USA (Solo)
 Biennale d'Art contemporain, d'Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
 Milano Triennale, "Disquieting Images," Milan, Italy,
 IUFM Confluences, "US Today After," Lyon, France
 Gallery ID, "Hedge" Miami, Florida
 Bieler Fototage, "Homeland", Bienne, Switzerland
 ARos Aarhus Kunstmuseum, "I Love You," Aarhus, Denmark
 Alternatilla, "Consequences by NOOR," Majorca, Spain
 IPPNW World Congress, "Purple Hearts," Basel, Switzerland
 Rembrandt Square, "Consequences by NOOR," Amsterdam

2009
 Side Gallery, "Homeland/Marine Wedding", New Castle, England,
 War  Ltd, "Purple Hearts", Dubrovnik, Croatia,
 Gage Gallery, Roosevelt University, "Homeland", Chicago Illinois
 Media Alliance, "Homeland, Purple Hearts," Troy, NY,
 New Orleans Museum of Art, "The Art of Caring," New Orleans, LA
 Houston Center for Photography, "Unite and Untie," Houston, Texas
 Dask Gallery, "Consequences by NOOR," Copenhagen, Denmark
 Powerhouse Arena, "Its Darkest Places: War Illuminated", Brooklyn, NY
 Galerie Cerami, “No Comment”, Charleroi, Beligum
 Noorderlicht, "Human Conditions," Groningen, The Netherlands
 FotoPub, "Homeland," Novo Mesto, Slovenia
 Kunstraum Potsdam, "Purple Hearts/Marine Wedding", Potsdam, Germany
 ArteFoto 2009, "Homeland," Ancona, Italy
 Deutsches Hygiene Museum, ”War and Medicine", Dresden, Germany
           
 2008
  Cicero Gallery, "Purple Hearts/Marine Wedding," Berlin, Germany (Solo)
  Photokina, "Purple Hearts/Marine Wedding," Cologne, Germany (Solo)
  Jen Bekman Gallery, " Homeland", New York City (Solo)
  Elon University, "Purple Hearts," Elon, North Carolina, USA (Solo)
  Wellcome Collection, "War and Medicine," London, England
  Stephen Cohen Gallery, "Images of War," Los Angeles, California
  Pingyao International Photo Festival, Pingyao, China
  Bumbershoot, "Power of One," Seattle, Washington
  Benham Art Gallery, Seattle, Washington
  Fovea Editions, "Frontlines", Beacon, New York
  Portland Art Museum, "New on the Wall," Portland, Oregon
  Massachusetts College of Art, "War Stories," Boston, USA
  Jen Bekman, "Ne Plus Ultra", New York City    

 2007
  Jen Bekman Gallery, "Purple Hearts," New York City, (Solo)
  Alice Austen House Museum, "Purple Hearts," Staten Island, NY (Solo)
  Musee de l'Art Wallon "Icare", Liege, Belgium
  Mark Di Suvero Peace Tower, Chicago, Illinois
  World Press Photo Foundation, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  Visa Pour L'Image, Perpignan, France
  Boca Raton Museum of Art, "Thy Brother's Keeper" Boca Raton, USA
  Nathan Cummings Foundation, "The Big Picture," New York City
  Green Door Studio, "Purple Hearts," Burlington, Vermont
  Columbia School of Social Work, "Purple Hearts," New York City
  Suny Potsdam, Crumb Library, Potsdam, New York
  Galerie Cerami, "Purple Hearts," Charleroi, Belgium

 2006
  University of Maryland, "Purple Hearts," Baltimore, Maryland (Solo)
  Trolley Gallery, "Purple Hearts," London, England (Solo)
  Chicago Cultural Center, "Humans Being: Disability in Contemporary Art, " Chicago, Il
  Spool Mfg - "Overload:" Johnson City, New York
  Flint Institute of Arts, "The Human Condition", Flint, Michigan
  Open Society Institute, "Moving Walls," Washington D.C.
  University of Hawaii, "Purple Hearts," Hilo, Hawaii

2005 
  Galerie Cerami, "Purple Hearts," Charleroi, Belgium, (Solo)
  National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum, "Purple Hearts," Chicago, Illinois, USA (Solo)
  Deutsche American Institute, "Purple Hearts," Heidelberg, Germany, (Solo)
  World Press Photo Foundation, Amsterdam, 2005
  Smack Mellon Gallery, "War," Brooklyn, New York
  Provisions Library, "War", Washington D.C,
  Open Society Institute, "Moving Walls," New York City
  Foto&Photo, "Purple Hearts" Cesano Maderno, Italy
  Blue Sky Gallery, "Purple Hearts," Portland, Oregon

 2004 - 1991
  Gladstone Building, "Purple Hearts," Oakland, California
  Redux Gallery, "Purple Hearts," New York City (2004)
  Visa Pour L'Image, Perpignan, France
  Musee de L'Elysee "New York after New York", Lausanne, Switzerland
  Palazzo Isimbardi, "9-11", Milan, Italy
  Museum of the City of New York, "New York Now 2000"
  Visa Pour L'Image, Perpignan, France, 1997
  United Nations, "Faces of Sorrow", New York City
  Henry Street Settlement, "On the Edge." New York City 1991

Catalogues/Book Contributions

• The Cunning of Gender Violence, ed by Lila Abu-Lughod,  Rema Hammami and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian,
          Duke University Press, 2023 
• What We See, ed. Daniella Zalcman and Sara Ickow, White Lion Publishing, 2023 
• La Région Humanine, ed Gilles Verneret and Michel Poivert, Éditions Loco, 2021
• Picturing Resistance, Melanie Light and Ken Light, Ten Speed Press, 2020
• Extraction:Art on the Edge of the Abyss, ed: Samuel Pelts, The Codex Foundation, 2020
• A World History of Photography, Naomi Rosenblaum, 5th edition, 2019
• Everyday Climate Change, (Silvana Editoriale, 2018) edited Dario Cimorelli
• War Is Only Half The Story,  ed Sara Terry, Dewi Lewis, 2018
• Subjective/Objective: A Century of Social Photography,  Ed Donna Gustafson and Andres Mario Zervigon, University of Chicago Press, 2017
• In/Visible War: The Culture of War in Twenty-First Century America, Rutgers University Press, 2017
• Re-imagining A Safe Space, Deborah Willis and Melissa Harris, Nathan Cummings Foundation/NYU Tisch, 2017
• Whose Streets? Our Streets!, Meg Handler, Tamar Carroll, Mike Kamber, Bronx Documentary Center, 2017
• Unloaded,Susanne Slavick, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, 2015
• 1% Privilege in a Time of Global Inequality, Myles Little, Hatje Cantz, 2015
• Blue Sky, The Oregon Center for Photographic Arts at 40, Julia Dolan, Portland Art Museum, 2014
• Trolleyology, Gigi Giannuzzi/Hannah Watson, Trolley, London, 2013
• Photojournalists on War: The Untold Stories from Iraq, Mike Kamber, University of Texas, 2013
• War/Photography:Images of Armed Conflict and its Aftermath, Anne Wilkes Tucker, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2012
• Marcellus Shale Documentary Project, Laura Domencic, Pittsburgh, 2012
• Bosnia 1992 – 1995, Jon Jones, Gary Knight, Sarajevo, 2012
• Making History, RAY Fotografieprojekte, Frankfurt, 2012
• Photographs Not Taken, Will Steacy, Daylight Books, 2012
• Disquieting Images, Germano Celant /Melissa Harris, Skira, Milan, 2011
• Whitney Biennial 2010 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2010
• US Today After, Gilles Verneret, Silvana Editoriale, Milan, 2010
• A History of Women Photographers, Naomi Rosenblum, Abbeville Press Publishers, New York, 2010
• The Pursuit of Happiness,Stitching Fotografie, Noorderlicht, 2009
• War Stories, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, 2008
• Humans Being: Disability in Contemporary Art, Chicago Cultural Center, and Chicago, 2006
• Crimes of War, Roy Gutman, David Rieff, Norton, USA, 1999       

Visiting Artist Lecture Venues

  Annenberg Space for Photography  
  Baruch College
  Bronx Documentary Center
  Carter Center
  Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University
  Colby College
  Colgate University
  Columbia University
  Dart Center
  DOK Festival, Norway
  Duke University
  Drexel University
  Empire State College
  Francis Marion University
  George Washington University
  International Center of Photography
  Indiana University
  Institute for Public Knowledge, NYU
  Humanity House, The Hague
  John Jay College
  Kharkiv Karazin University
  Kutztown University
  Lisbon Consortium, Portugal
  Massachusetts College of Art
  Montserrat College of Art
  New York Academy of Medicine
  New York Film Academy
  New School
  New York University
  Northern Virginia Community College
  Palmer Art Museum - Penn State
  Pratt Institute
  Princeton University
  Rochester Institute of Technology
  Roosevelt University
  Rutgers University
  School of Visual Arts
  Scottish Parliament
  Susquehanna University
  Temple University
  University of California, Berkeley
  University of California, Santa Barbara
  University of Michigan
  University of North Carolina, Greensboro
  University of Southern California, Annenberg
  University of South Wales, Cardiff
  Weatherspoon Art Museum
  Whitney Museum of American Art
  Yale University
  Zimmerli Art Museum

TEACHING AND ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

  2018 - present - Professor of Journalism Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
  2012-  2018  - Associate Professor of Journalism Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
  2019 - Women Photograph Mentor
  2019 - NOOR Master Class- Sofia,  Bulgaria
  2018 -NOOR Master Class - Warsaw, Poland
  2011 -Al-Liquindoi and Contemporary Image Collection - Visual storytelling workshop - Cairo, Egypt    
  2011 - Framing the Future/NOOR - Cairo, Egypt
  2010 -Whitney Museum of American Art: Veterans Eye: Collaborative Program Brooklyn VA hospital PTSD clinic
  2010 -Whitney Museum of American Art: Artist in Residence Youth Insights
  2010- NOOR Master Class - St. Petersburg, Russia
  1999, 2004 – 2009  International Center of Photography (ICP) Documentary/Photojournalism Seminar   

  

Juries/ Portfolio Reviews

 2023 Aftermath Project Grant
 2023 Bronx Documentary Center/ Portfolio Review
 2022 Victor K. McElheny Award 
 2022 Bronx Documentary Center/Portfolio Review
 2021 Women Photograph Grants
 2021 Lipman Center's Initiative on Reporting on Race and Criminal Justice Fellows
 2019 W. Eugene Smith, Student Award
 2019 United Photo Industries, The Fence
 2018 Catchlight Award
 2017 Slovak Press Photo Jury Chair
 2017 FotoEvidence Book Award
 2017 Documenting Detroit Fellows
 2014 Terry O'Neil Photography Award
 2013 Terry O'Neill Photography Award
 2012 Aftermath Project Grant
 2011 World Press Photo Foundation
 2011 Hasselblad Masters
 2006 Pictures of the Year International     

                  

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