Heinrich Von Grünigen (People 2017, by Niels Ackermann) - Swiss Press Award

Niels Ackermann

Photographe, Genève, 1987

Niels has worked as a photojournalist for the Swiss and international press since 2007. Working on Ukraine since 2009, he has published three books dedicated to the country. These include the post-Chernobyl youth (2016), the management of the Soviet legacy (2017), and the war unleashed by Russia (2021). The perpetual quest for nuance is a cardinal point of his work. An idea that the world is too complex to be summed up in binary oppositions between good and evil, between right and wrong, and that it is often better to ask new questions than to provide answers yourself. After focusing on Ukraine for more than 13 years, Niels is now interested in the Swiss political system. In addition to photography, Niels holds a degree in political science from the University of Geneva. He now lives in Geneva, where he co-founded the photography collective Lundi13.