Nina Berman

Nina Berman (born 1960) is an American documentary photographer. She has published three monographs, Purple Hearts – Back from Iraq (2004), Homeland (2008) and An autobiography of Miss Wish (2017). Berman's prints have been exhibited in museums worldwide, received grants and awards, and she is a member of the NOOR photo agency and an associate professor at Columbia University.

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.

Berman is a documentary photographer, author and educator. Much of her photographic work focuses upon the American political and social landscape, including the militarization of American life and the dialogue around war, patriotism and sacrifice. Berman is the author of two monographs: Purple Hearts – Back From Iraq, and Homeland. 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 Foundation awards (one of which was for her portrait "Marine Wedding" of Tyler Ziegel, a wounded Marine, and his bride), and a Hasselblad award. 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.

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.

• 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 Sylvia Wald/ 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

• 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 Foundation
• 2006: New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship
• 2007: Pictures of the Year Award
• 2007: World Press Photo Foundation
• 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
• 2018: Shortlist, Historical Book award, Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, France for An autobiography of Miss Wish