Nina Berman
From Provisions
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Questions for the Artist
Provisions Library: What early memories or experiences motivated your engagement with social change?
Nina Berman: I was 8 years old and I remember watching on TV Spiro Agnew’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. I remember thinking what a wonderful speech it was and how exciting it was to see all the flags, the cheering and applause. When it was over, my father looked like he was going to explode in disgust. My mother, who rarely cursed, said “that fucking idiot.” I realized then that people in high places say things that sound one way but mean something very different and that I needed to learn how to decipher the lies. That was the beginning for me.
PL: What books, artworks, films, music, etc. have been essential to you?
NB: Franz Kafka and Miles Davis
PL: What are you working on now?
NB: I am photographing the militarization of American society and how the desire for security manifests itself in daily life.
PL: How has the art world reacted to the content of your work? Do you feel that your work has been depoliticized/overpoliticized/exoticized/misinterpreted?
NB: I feel the art world has been very fair in understanding that while my work has political ramifications, it is also very personal in its depiction of human frailty.
PL: Terms like "artist" and "activist" are subjective terms. Where do you see the overlap, if any? Do you draw strict separations between the two, or do you see them as inseparable?
NB: For me, it is hugely important to actively engage different audiences with my art work. The outreach is the activism, and it breathes life into the images. In that sense, the two are closely connected.
About the Artist
On her photographic project Purple Hearts:
"When you spend a long time with them, some bitterness comes out now and again. Almost all of them have had difficult experiences completing their discharges. This is a massive bureaucratic problem for soldiers, and it's critical to make certain they’re compensated fairly. What happens is they get wounded and sent to a hospital, usually to either Walter Reed or Brook Army, and begin the process of trying to get discharged. If you’re really wounded -- a quadriplegic, a double-amputee or totally blind -- you’re not a deployable soldier and you should be discharged. But I just spoke with a soldier yesterday who’s waited a year to get medically discharged. This is a major difference for wounded soldiers. If you’re not medically discharged you still get paid a crappy substandard soldier pay, whereas once you’re medically discharged you become a disabled veteran and begin collecting some actual benefits. These guys are stuck in the system for months and months and months, and all of them are quite frustrated by this. If the military were smart they’d get their act together because it leaves a sour taste in soldier’s mouths.
I asked them all what expectations they had had about the war, and a lot of their answers were really shocking. One soldier said he thought it would be fun, that he would be jumping out of planes. A couple of soldiers said they watched Desert Storm on TV as kids and thought it looked really cool. One soldier watched war movies as a kid and said American soldiers were always treated “awesome” in the world. He’s saying this and he doesn’t have a leg. That’s how “awesome” he was treated.
I also started asking them how they defined freedom and democracy, and some couldn’t even answer the question. For Jose, freedom was about being able to play video games or go to the movies. It was striking how simple these responses were, for soldiers being told that they were going to Iraq to liberate the people and bring them freedom and democracy." –Nina Berman
–from an interview in Mother Jones, Oct. 28, 2004
More images from the series, Purple Hearts and new images documenting the wedding of wounded veteran, Ty Ziegel and a pdf of the story in People Magazine. One of these images won a 1st prize in the World Press Photo Awards.
More on Veterans
Operation Iraqi Freedom Casualties - Iraq and Afghanistan "The goal of this website is to document coalition casualties for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. We attempt to be up to date, precise, accurate and reliable. There are many other sites on the web that list information of Fatalities from Iraq , but few if any of them do this in an analytical fashion. We endeavor to provide not just a list of names but a resource detailing when, where and how fatalities occurred."
Iraq Veterans Against the War A national group of veterans and national servicemen and women of "The Global War on Terror" working for the immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces in Iraq;
Reparations for the destruction and corporate pillaging of Iraq so that ordinary Iraqi people can control their own lives and future and full benefits, adequate healthcare (including mental health), and other supports for returning servicemen and women.
Veterans History Project - Library of Congress Our primary focus is on first-hand accounts of U.S. Veterans from 20th Century wars. In addition, those U.S. citizen civilians who were actively involved in supporting war efforts (such as war industry workers, USO workers, flight instructors, medical volunteers, etc.) are also invited to share their valuable stories.
More Images from Nina Berman
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| Pfc. Alan Jermaine Lewis, 23 | Sgt. Joseph Mosner, 35 | Cpl. Tyson Johnson III, 22 |
