War and Peace

As a newly appointed member of the world-famous Magnum Photos agency and recipient of 26 awards to date, Nanna Heitmann is Hanover University’s most successful Visual Journalism & Documentary Photography student. With ‘War and Peace’, the GAF presents a comprehensive selection of images captured exclusively in Russia and Ukraine. The invasion of Ukraine dramatically altered the photographer’s view of Russia, her adopted home country. This change in perspective is palpably documented by the images shown at the GAF in Hanover from September 2 to October 8, 2023.

“With my ongoing project about the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine, I am trying to historically document the events taking place around me, and shed light on the gap between the reality of the war in Ukraine and the distorted perception that is cultivated in Russian society. How can an entire nation follow its leader blindly and without questioning?” the photographer observes.

Heitmann was born in Ulm, Germany, in 1994, and currently lives in Moscow. Her work has been featured in publications such as the National Geographic, Time Magazine and M – Le Magazine du Monde. She also works for The New York Times and The New Yorker. Her numerous awards include the Olivier Rebbot Award 2021, the World Press Photo Award 2022, and the Stern Prize for Best Photo Story of the Year 2023.

Previous series by Nanna Heitmann can be viewed in LFI 3/2019 and the LOBA special issue of 2019.