Nina Berman

Documentary photographer
     
An autobiography of Miss Wish
Location: New York City
Nationality: American
Biography: Nina Berman is a documentary photographer, filmmaker, author and educator. Her wide-ranging work looks at  American politics, militarism,  post violence trauma and resistance.  Her photographs and videos have been exhibited at more... MORE
Public Story
An autobiography of Miss Wish
Copyright Nina Berman 2024
Date of Work Dec 1969 - Dec 1969
Updated Dec 2018
Topics aperture book award, Mixed Medium
An autobiography of Miss Wish is a story of a survivor of sex trafficking and child pornography and her struggle to survive and find physical and emotional safety,  to assert herself as an artist and narrator, and to craft a life while living in a state of flashbacks, trauma and addiction.

Photographed over twenty-five years in London and New York City, the story is told through multiple narrative elements including the protagonist’s vast personal archive which was safeguarded by the photographer who assumed the role of friend and advocate. The resulting collaborative book weaves together this archive of extraordinary drawings depicting memories of crime scenes, along with medical reports,  diary entries,  interviews,  ephemera,  and letters between the authors.

An autobiography of Miss Wish, is also a tale about two lives intertwined and the creative potential of collaborative documentary.
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Awards:
Aperture/Paris Photo Book Prize,  2019 (Shortlist)
Lucie Award  Nomination, Kehrer and An autobiography of Miss Wish 2019
Deutsche Börse Foundation Photography Prize, 2019  (Long list)
Arles  Photo Book/Text Award, 2018, (Shortlist)
L'oeil de la photographie books best of 2018
PDN Annual Book Award, 2018
Mother Jones Best Photo Book of 2017
Women Photograph Books of 2017
Lange/Taylor Prize - Center for Documentary Studies,  finalist 2016

Reviews/Features
The New York Times 

British Journal of Photography
Pacific Standard
Huck Magazine
Fire-cracker.org
Vice UK
PHMuseum
L'oeil de la photographie

Lenscratch
Fraction Magazine
a Photo Editor
Feature Shoot
Doc Photo Magazine
Il Post
Six Mois
Fotografi

Exhibitions:
Images SIngulieres: "An autobiography of Miss Wish," Solo Exhibition, Sete, France, 2019
Parsons School of Design, "Beyond Addiction, Reframing Recovery,"  New York City, USA, 2019
Organ Vida, Gallery Nova, Solo Exhibiition, Zagreb, Croatia,  2018
Athens Photo Festival,  Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece, 2018
Cinema Galleries,   Brussels, Belgium, 2018
Maribor Art Gallery,  "Vigilance, Struggle and Pride: Through Her Eyes"  Maribor, Slovenia, 2018
Centro Internatzionale di Fotografia,  "Women Photograph Women,"  Palermo, Italy, 2017
Tisch School of the Arts at New York University,   "Re-imagining a Safe Space,"  New York City, USA, 2017

Events:

Focus on the Story
Artist Talk
June 3, 2020
Virtual

DOK Festival 19
Artist Lecture:
House of Literature
May 25, 2019  
Fredrikstad, Norway

UC Berkeley- Reva and David Logan Photo Book Symposium
Panel Discussion: How We See:  Photobooks by Women
Moderator Svetlana Bachevanova with Nina Berman and Janet Delaney
Sibley Auditorium,  Bechtel Engineering Center,
Berkeley, California
May 4, 2019

NYU Tisch School of the Arts
Documenting Diversity with Ruddy Roye and Lola Flash
New York  NY
October 17, 2018

Power of Storytelling: Rewrite
Keynote speaker
Bucharest, Romania  
October 12, 2018

Gallery Nova, Organ Vida Festival
Zagreb, Croatia
Exhibition opening
September 13, 2018

Recontres d'Arles
Book signing
July 5, 2018

Athens Photo Festival
Artist Lecture/Exhibition
Benaki Museum,
Athens, Greece
June 24, 2018
 
International Center of Photography (ICP)
Artist Lecture
New York City
June 5, 2018

Magnum Foundation

10x10 Book Salon
New York City
May 24, 2018

The New School
"Panel: Confounding Expectations: Picturing Addiction"
New York City
April 19, 2018

Monroe Gallery of Photography
AIPAD- Book Signing
New York City
April 8, 2018

Columbia University 
Dart Center on Journalism and Trauma
"Documentary Storytelling and Collaborative Practices"
New York City
April 5, 2018

The New School
Institute for Transformative Mentoring
Center for New York City Affairs
Kimberly Stevens and Nina Berman in conversation
New York City
March 9, 2018

New York Academy of Medicine "Navigating Care for the Most Vulnerable"
New York City
February 21, 2018

Bronx Documentary Center

Artist Lecture with Kimberly Stevens; Bearing Witness
The Bronx,  New York
February 1, 2018

Paris Photo 
Eyes Magazine-Artist talk
Paris, France
November 10, 2017
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Enemy of the People

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Triumph of the Shill -NB1

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When The Jets Fly

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Afghanistan - under Taliban

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megachurches

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David Duke

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tea party

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homeland

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Acknowledgment of Danger

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Untitled

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fractured: the shale play

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Triumph of the Shill 2

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times square

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hedge

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robert taylor

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Obama train

Nina Berman / USA
An autobiography of Miss Wish by Nina Berman
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