NINA BERMAN | 15 Minutes Apart

Issue 13

Julie, 33, had been a civilian marine engineer on a Navy Vessel in support of Operation Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. Her small size made her perfect to fit into the tight spaces of the engine room, where she was exposed to diesel fumes, chemicals, etc.

NINA BERMAN | Industrial Intrusion

THE HOME was deserted. The occupants had fled, no longer able to bear the industrial intrusion that turned night into day and muffled the sounds of nature that had called them to this place years ago. Late September, after midnight, I came upon this spot and saw an apple tree transformed, shaking in the wind, illuminated by flames from a nearby methane flare. The air was hot and smelled. For some, drilling to explode gas to heat our homes and power our world is progress that promises vast wealth. For others, it portends destruction and ecological demise.

NINA BERMAN | The Afterglow

Issue 12

THERE WAS AN AFTERGLOW, a lingering light, and a feeling before the crush when the world tightened and the future we now suffer was sealed. I reach back to those days in between with such naked nostalgia I can hardly understand it. It is something more than hindsight, it is the physicality of the images, the simplicity of purpose, my purpose too, the complete lack of irony, a kind of innocence. Some call this period after September 11, a period of unity when America came together. However, that is political speak designed to manipulate and force us into narrow visions and proscribed postures.