Nanna Heitmann (b. 1994) is a documentary photographer from Ulm, Germany. A regular contributor to The New York Times, she has spent the past three years documenting wartime Russia during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, one of the few Western photographers working in the country.
Heitmann has documented the effects of climate change, such as catastrophic forest fires and melting permafrost in Siberia (As Frozen Lands Burn), as well as the peatlands of the Congo Basin, which serve as the world’s largest carbon reservoir (Beneath The Trees). She has been published by National Geographic, Time, and M Le Magazine du Monde, among others, and contributes to The New York Times and the New Yorker. Her visual journalism has been recognized with numerous prizes, including the Olivier Rebbot Award for her work on Russia’s Covid experience, and a World Press Photo Award for her story on forest fires.
Heitmann became a Magnum nominee in 2019, joining on the strength of two bodies of personal work that both deal with issues of isolation — physical, social and spiritual. Weg vom Fenster (‘Gone From the Window’), focused upon the inhabitants of Germany’s last operating coal mine. And for Hiding From Baba Yaga – a project whose title is inspired by the witch of Slavic folklore – Heitmann followed the world’s longest river from the Republic of Tuva northward through Siberia, photographing the lives of people living on the remote banks of the Yenisei River. Her gaze conveys the dignity and humanity of these people and allows the viewer to look at them with curiosity and empathy.
Heitmann became a full member of magnum in 2023 and a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2024.
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Awards / Grants
2024 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Feature Photography
2024 Danish Siddiqui Award (85th Annual Overseas Press Club Awards)
2023 STERN Award (former Henri-Nannen Preis) best Photo Story of the Year
2023 Françoise Demulder Award
2022 Leica Oscar Barnack Award shortlist
2022 World Press Photo, Europe, Stories
2021 America’s Olivier Rebbot Award for best photographic news reporting from abroad in any medium
2020 The 30: New and Emerging Photographers to Watch 2020
2020 Honorable Mention | PHmuseum 2020 Women Photographers Grant
2020 shortlist W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography
2020 Joop Swart Masterclass Participant
2019 Ian Parry – Award for Achievement
2019 Winner of Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award
2019 PHmuseum Photography Grant- new generation prize, honorable mention
2019 shortlist Gomma Grant
2018 Vogue Italia Prize at the PH Museum women photographers grant
2018 Lensculture- Emerging Talents, shortlisted
2018 Vonovia Award für Fotografie, newcomer prize
2018 shortlisted for PHmuseum Women Photographers Grant – Verzasca FOTO Prize
2018 student award winner of World.Report Award 2018 | Documenting Humanity
2018 Magenta Foundation- Top 100
2018 Shortlisted for Kolga Award, Georgia
2018 First prize Forum Geschichtskultur an Ruhr und Escher e.V.
2018 Rovinj Photodays final selection
2018 Riga Photomonth Selection, Latvia
2018 Belgrade New Talent Award
2017 BFF- Förderpreis
2016 Dating ohne Date | Juliane Bartel Medienpreis – Online Video
2015 German Youth Photo Prize, Germany
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Solo Shows
2024 «Krieg und Frieden», LWL-Museum, Hattingen
2023 «Krieg und Frieden», Galerie für Fotografie, Hannover
2021 The Nobel Peace Center, Oslo, Norway
2020 Zingst, Leica Gallery
2019 Landau, Strieffler Haus
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Group Shows
2024 Close enough: New Perspectives from 12 Women Photographers of Magnum, Kunstfoyer, Munich
2023 Close enough: New Perspectives from 12 Women Photographers of Magnum, Hangar Art Center, Brussels, Belgium
2023 Perpignan “War is Peace”
2022 Icp- Close enough: New Perspectives from 12 Women Photographers of Magnum
2022 Berlin Photo Week
2021 “Essere Umane – Le grandi fotografe raccontano il mondo”, Museo San Domenico di Forlì, Italy
2021 Paris Photo
2020 Photo London
2020 Capitis Studios / Berlin
2020 Manege Central Exhibition Hall, St. Petersburg, As They See Us. A Portrait of Russia by the Magnum Agency
2019 Leica Oskar Barnack Award, Neue Schule für Fotografie Berlin
2019 Perpignan off
2019 Cortona on the Move, Italy
2019 Red hook Labs, Brooklyn
2019 Voies off Award, Arles (screening)
2019 Kunstmuseum Bochum
2019 Kommunale Gallerie, Berlin
2018 Klompching Gallery – LensCulture 2018 Emerging Talent Award, NYC
2018 Festival della Fotografia Etica, Lodi, Italy
2018 Triennale der Photographie, Hamburg
2018 Photokina- BFF Förderpreis, Cologne, Germany
2018 Pixel Projekt Ruhr, Wissenschaftspark Gelsenkirchen
2018 Kolga Tblisi Award, Tblisi, Georgia
2018 Riga Photo Month, Riga, Latvia (screening)
2018 Rovinj Photodays (screening)
2018 Belgrade Photomonth
2017 German Youth Photo Award, Forum Gestaltung, Magdeburg, Germany
2016 Die Provinz aus neuer Sicht(group) | Pix. House – Ort für Fotografie in Poznan, Polen
2015 Linden Leben | Kulturhalle Faust in Hannover
2015 German Youth Photo Award, photokina, Cologne, Germany
2015 German Youth Photo Award, Haus der Geschichte, Berlin, Germany
