Nadja Wohlleben
Photographer / Based in Berlin, Germany
NADJA WOHLLEBEN is an independent photojournalist and documentary photographer based in Berlin, Germany. In her work, she focusses on stories of resilience in the feminine human landscape. Nadja is specifically interested in stories about women warriors. Since 2017, she has been working on her long-term project AMAZONS, for which she collects stories of fighting females around the world, ultimately creating an atlas of warrior women worldwide.
Nadja is a member of Women Photograph and is represented by laif photo agency.
Her editorial clients and publications include Der Spiegel, Stern, The New York Times, GEO, Neue Zuercher Zeitung, Zeit Online, Financial Times, Thomson Reuters, Open Society Foundations, Vice, Spiegel Online, Days Japan, 6Mois, among many others.
Nadja's work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally and has received international recognition at The Photo Annual Awards (formerly PDN), the NPPA Best of Photojournalism Awards, International Photography Awards, Burn Emerging Photographer Grant, FotoVisura Photography Grant, The Photography Gala Awards, and Moscow International Foto Awards.
As an undergraduate, Nadja received a scholarship to study Journalism at New York University, then went on to complete her first master's degree in Cultural Anthropology at Humboldt University in Berlin. Upon realising that photography was the ideal tool to combine her interests, Nadja majored in Photojournalism at the University of Westminster in London, earning her second master's degree with distinction.
Besides creating visual narratives, Nadja loves martial arts: she trains Shaolin Kung Fu since two decades, is a Taekwondo (2nd Dan) teacher and gives self-defense workshops for women. In 2018, Nadja co-developed the app MIGHTY Self-Defense for Women.
Nadja has traveled to over 50 countries. Her nomadic lifestyle is facilitated by her fluency in German, English and French, as well as intermediate Spanish.