Nina Berman is a documentary photographer, filmmaker, author, and educator based in New York City. Through her work we are challenged to discover uncharted territories and face fragments of emotionally charged human experiences. Berman’s curiosity and rigour has resulted in a body of work that is rich with nuance and adept at capturing complexity.
These qualities are amply evident in her 2017 monograph “The Autobiography of Miss Wish“. This is a tale about two lives intertwined, subject and photographer, working collaboratively to create a uniquely enigmatic book, which pushes the boundaries of documentary storytelling. It is a haunting, dark 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 25 years in London and then New York City where Miss Wish fled on the advice of Scotland Yard, 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 book weaves together this archive of harrowing drawings depicting crime scenes and flashbacks, hospital psychiatric reports, diary entries, personal ephemera and letters and text messages between photographer and protagonist.
The book was shortlisted for both the Aperture and Arles book prizes.
The two channel video accompanying the book/exhibition:
“An autobiography of Miss Wish“.
Q > What did you hope readers of “An autobiography of Miss Wish” would walk away with?
A > American society stigmatises poor people, homeless people, people with mental illness and addicts. The underlying message is that somehow it’s their fault for the situation they are in. They must have a character flaw, or are lazy or selfish and need to toughen up. Rarely do we look at these people (who are all of us in one way or another) as individuals with deep and complex histories who are creative, artistic, loving and fully human who are in a terrible situation which in Kim’s case began because of trauma and violence done to her. And so I want the reader to rethink and feel their view of an addict or a homeless person.
Q > Which conventions and practices do you think need to be disrupted, challenged or changed in order to support people experiencing addiction?
A > This book is fully collaborative meaning Kim was an active creator, participant and editor. It took us 25 years to figure out whether to tell this story, how to tell the story, and what was the story we ultimately wanted to tell. And so asking those questions is a good start. I believe we must move on from the easy and reductive images made by photojournalists of a needle in an arm, or a crack pipe in the mouth, or someone laid out on the street, because they tell us very little and reinforce stigmatising stereotypes.
Q > Which things do you think people often take for granted?
A > Those who haven’t experienced trauma take for granted that they are living in a community where a good deal of people are in fact struggling on a daily basis with trauma, PTSD, mental illness and anxiety and are doing their best just to keep it together.
Q > Which topics do you find yourself debating or contemplating at the moment?
A > Right now I am watching my city, New York City, and cities across the US burn. People are angry and fed up after decades of police abuse. The United States is a country that has prioritised punishment, incarceration and militarisation in its domestic and international policies. The veneer that we are somehow a functioning humane society is unmasked for all to see. I, like millions of others, are longing for a new way.
Nina Berman’s wide-ranging work looks at American politics, militarism, environmental contamination and post violence trauma. Her photographs and videos have been exhibited at more than 100 venues from the security walls of the Za’atari refugee camp to the Whitney Museum of American Art. She is the author of Purple Hearts – Back from Iraq, (2004) portraits and interviews with wounded American veterans, Homeland, (2008) a look at the militarisation in post September 11 America, and most recently, An autobiography of Miss Wish (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 and the Aftermath Project. She is a member of the photography and film collective NOOR images and a professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where she directs the photography program. She lives in her hometown of New York City.