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Résumé

Jenner Zimmermann was born on the 5th of January 1950 in Munich, Germany.

His father Hans Paul Zimmermann worked as Theater Actor, Director and Dramaturg, his mother Inge Zimmermann, born Leeb, as a nurse (in wartimes) and manager of her husband’s professional engagements. Due to a severe and lifelong illness of his mother, Jenner’s family broke up when he was only six years old. Together with his younger brother Bernd – who later became a distinguished Sculptor – he spent the following 13 years of his primary and high school education in boarding schools. However their maternal grandfather Emil Leeb, a retired General, took over as primary caregiver, offering a home during holidays and raising the two boys in cooperation with other family members.

Jenner’s choice of his professional career proved to be different to the professions of his family background, he became a Photographer and Author, publishing numerous works throughout his career. He started Photography at the age of 16 years during his high school years and completed a BVA – Bachelor of Visual Arts in 1991. He now lives in the Otamatea Eco Village in the North Island of New Zealand, which practises Permaculture on a 150 hectare peninsular. Jenner has both the New Zealand and German citizenship. He is very close to his daughter Alice and his two grandsons Lukas and Oskar, who live in Sydney, Australia.

Interests:  Photography, books, documentary film, foreign cultures, ecology, soprano/ tenor saxophone and piano

1970-71 Traineeship in film productions, experimental Photography, photos of musicians and music groups, posters, records and book covers

1971-72  Film and Photography production in Marocco and Spain for a 30 minutes long Multi-Media Show for the cultural programme of the Munich Olympic Games 1972, presented at the “Spielstraße” (Olympic Culture Grounds). 

1972-75  Training as a commercial studio and corporate Photographer in Munich 

1976-84  Management of one’s own studio for advertising and corporate Photography. Audiovisual Shows and short films (e.g. Recreation centre for young children with haemophilia; Subaru car, Fuji Heavy Industries, Japan) for medical equipment companies (Baxter-Travenol) as well as companies (Adarma, Münchner Wach- und Schließgesellschaft) specialised in home and business security equipment and services.

1977 – Birth of daughter Alice (mother: Iris Kuepper)

1977-2007  Feature photography for Eltern and Eltern for family, two leading German parent advisory magazines

1978-2023  Engagement with Indian culture, numerous journeys to India, resulting in six Photography and text volumes. Many exhibitions of India work in Germany, India and other countries, among them New Zealand and Australia. The shows were accompanied by seminars and work-shops, repeatedly organised by the Goethe-Institut (a cultural institution of the Federal Republic of Germany).

1979-1984 Corporate Assignments, several Annual Business Reports / Brochures in Germany and Austria for DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation), showcasing examples of medium and large data processing facilities.

1984-2012  Numerous commissions from the Goethe-Institut Head Office in Munich, focussing on Youth Culture, the life of poet J.W.Goethe, German history of the 20th century, the World Expo 2000 in Hannover, European Architectural Heritage as well as Photography work-shops for overseas language teachers etc. Married Felicitas Hübner 1987 (divorce 1991).

1989-1993  Moved to New Zealand. Photography teaching position (Associate Professor) as Head of  Department of Photography at the Whitecliffe College of Art&Design, Auckland, New Zealand. Agfa Chair of Photography Award. Married Barbara Souter 1993 (divorce 2006),

1994-2008  Photography, multi-media and film assignments in Germany. Among them commissions for Audiovisual Shows, one was on the daily life of monks at the 800 years old Benedictine Monastery in Scheyern / South Germany, the Scheyern Abbey. Two Shows for the Goethe-Institut, one on Germany’s 20th century events, the other one on the German poet J.W. von Goethe. Corporate photography in New Zealand. A seven month long Photography production / commission in India for a book project titled “Culinaria India”.

1996   Photography and text volume: New Zealand – By the Way. Immigrant Photographers and Photographs of Immigrants. Co-publisher with AGFA New Zealand; roles as editor and contributor.

2008   Moved to Germany / Brandenburg, near Berlin

2009-2016  Fifth photography and text volume on India. Documentary film on the Indian poet and Nobel Prize laureate Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) commissioned by the Goethe-Institut. Corporate Photography commissions, e.g. of the gas pipeline through the Baltic Sea etc. Was awarded an international scholarship (“Interstip”) by the Culture Department of the Federal State of Brandenburg / Germany for a book project on eight special Indian women.

2016-2025  Moved back to New Zealand, work on book publications and ecology projects. Completed book on eight India women in the German and English language, see details in the menu BOOKS on this website. Exhibition and book presentation tour through Germany in 2023. Next event will be in New Zealand in 2015 (see menu EXHIBITIONS and drop down menu NEW / UPCOMING).