Resume
Jenner Zimmermann was born on the 5th of January 1950 in Munich, Germany.
His father worked as Theater Actor, Director and Dramaturg, his mother as a nurse. Due to a severe illness of his mother, the family broke up when Jenner was 6 years old. Together with his younger brother he spent the following 13 years of his primary and high school education in boarding schools. However, the maternal grandfather, 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 an Eco village in New Zealand. He is very close to his daughter and two grandsons, who live in Sydney, Australia.
Interests: Photography, documentary film, books, foreign cultures, ecology, tenor saxophone and piano
1970-71 Traineeship in film productions, experimental photography, photos for music groups, records and book covers
1971-72 Production of a multi-media show in Marocco für the cultural programme of the Munich Olympic Games 1972 (Projekt Spielstraße)
1972-75 Training as commercial studio photographer in Munich
1976-84 Management of one’s own studio for advertising and corporate photography
1977-2007 Feature photography for Eltern, a German parent’s advisory magazine
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
1984-2012 Numerous commissions from the Goethe-Institut Head Office in Munich, focussing on youth culture, the life of J.W.Goethe, German history of the 20th century, the World Expo 2000 in Hannover, European architectural heritage etc
1989-1993 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
1994-2008 Photography, multi-media and film assignments in Germany, New Zealand and India
1996 Photography and text volume New Zealand – By the Way
2008 Moved to Germany 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, documentary photography of the gas pipeline through the Baltic Sea, gained scholarship for book project on eight special Indian women.
2016-2023 Moved 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 category BOOKS on this Website. Exhibition tour through Germany in 2023, see under menu EXHIBITIONS.