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Purple Hearts: Photographs of War's Human Toll

Nina Berman captures portraits of the soldiers who have made life-altering sacrifices during their service.

Andrew Price
By Andrew PriceNov 15, 2010
Andrew Price
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New York-based photographer Nina Berman has been capturing portraits of the soldiers who have made life-altering sacrifices during their service in the military. For her "Purple Hearts" series, Berman photographed a few of the more than 32,000 soldiers (that's the official number) who have been wounded in combat in Iraq. Her more recent work, "Poisoned While Deployed," represented by the last two photographs here, looks at health consequences suffered from exposure to so-called "burn pits": open-air toxic dumps in Iraq operated by the United States and its contractors. Videos of the burn pits are available here.

An exhibition of the Purple Hearts work is currently on view at the Bernstein Gallery at Princeton University.

To view further images from "Purple Hearts," visit NOOR Images or Nina's website.

Photos courtesy of Nina Berman/NOOR

cultureiraqartphotographynina bermanpurple heartsburn pitselections and politics

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