Here’s what Habjouqa had to say about Berman’s work:
Nina Berman’s work always floors me — her mix of raw politics, poetic twists, and human despair. The fact that this fracking series began in 2010 and is still frighteningly relevant speaks to the intuitive approach she takes. Nina is frighteningly intelligent — and every work she undertakes is flawlessly researched and prescient. She was already exploring this environmental, corporate exploitation before it even registered in the mainstream media.What I love about Nina’s work is while she focuses on political and social injustice — and those humans that are often the victims of it — she ascribes agency in how she represents them. Whether in her past work of wounded U.S. soldiers or victims of racism. This particular story unfolds like a Greek tragedy, and she smartly structured it along the lines of a play — the characters are stoic, actively resisting forces you cannot always tangibly access but sense in the eerie disruption of nature, sparks of orange looming in the distance and tired mothers nursing collapsed daughters. A weariness and wariness, and natural order askew. This work made me uncomfortable, this work made a far away headline relevant. This work — as awful as the subject is — is beautiful for its resisting humanity.
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