World Press Photo winner Mads Nissen attracted almost 200 visitors to the Museum of Photography WestLicht on Friday evening.

The photographer presented three of his most recent works, including Homophobia in Russia, the project that won him the World Press Photo of the Year 2014. It shows the gay couple Jon and Alex from St. Petersburg in an intimate moment. Nissen reported on his experiences in Russia, on the violence and the frightening repression against homosexuals. He wants to stand up to these cruelties with his photo and above all show one thing: The love between people.

Mads Nissen was born in Denmark in 1979. After studying photojournalism, he moved to Shanghai for two years in 2007 to document the effects of the historic economic boom on Chinese society. Assignments during this time came from magazines such as Time, Newsweek, Der Spiegel and Stern. When he returned to Denmark, he first worked for Berlingske/Scanpix, and since 2014 he has been a photographer for the daily newspaper Politiken. Nissen's work was already awarded by the World Press Photo Jury in 2011, and in his home country Denmark he was twice voted Photographer of the Year.

Photos: Christine Miess/WestLicht