Mads Nissen

Mads Nissen (born November 17, 1979) is a Danish documentary photographer and winner of 2015 and 2021 World Press Photo of the Year.
Life and work.
Nissen was born on November 17, 1979 in Hobro, Denmark. He completed his studies with distinction at the Danish School of Journalism in 2007.
From 2004 to 2006 he worked as a staff photographer for the Danish newspaper "Politiken", and subsequently as a freelance photojournalist for "Newsweek", "Time", "Der Spiegel", "Stern" and "The Sunday Times".
He moved to Shanghai, China (2007-2008) to document the human and social consequences of China's historic economic rise. Since 2014 he has worked as a staff photographer at the Danish daily Politiken, a newspaper internationally praised for its strong commitment to visual journalism. In addition to Politiken, his images have been published in Time, Newsweek, CNN, National Geographic, The Guardian, Stern, Der Spiegel and many publications.
He frequently gives lectures and workshop and has had solo-exhibitions across Europe and Latin America in such places as The Nobel Peace Center (Norway), The National Museum (Colombia), GAF (Germany), Frederiksborg Slot (Denmark) and Festival dela Fotografia Etica (Italy).
In 2015, his photograph of two gay men in St Petersburg, from a series on homophobia in Russia, was selected as World Press Photo of the Year. In 2021 he is nominated for the prize once again. In 2018 he was named ‘Photographer of the Year’ for the third time in Denmark. He has also twice been shortlisted as ‘Photographer of the Year’ at the Pictures of the Year International Award (POYi).
Nissen has published three photo books: "The Fallen" (People's Press), "Amazonas" (Gyldendal) and most recently "We are Indestructible" (GOST). This book provides a glimpse of the multi-layered seams of Colombia's past, present and future and is the culmination of many years of work in the country. It provides a portrait of a war-torn country navigating the complexities of newfound peace after more than 50-years of conflict.