Documentary photographer, author, and educator Nina Berman will hold an artist talk today at 4:30 p.m. in the Palmer Lipcon Auditorium of the Palmer Art Museum. The talk will focus on photography, fracking, and the environment.

Berman will show work from her series, “Fractured: The Shale Play,” as part of the Marcellus Shale Documentary Project, which focuses on the impact of the fracking industry on Pennsylvania communities. Gas drilling is an increasingly significant issue in Pennsylvania —  the state has 7,109 active wells in all — and Penn State recently selected a fracking-themed common book to be read by all incoming freshmen.

Besides her work on Marcellus Shale, Nina Berman has two acclaimed monographs, “Purple Hearts—Back from Iraq” and “Homeland,” which both deal extensively with the aftermath of war and militarization of American life. Her work has been exhibited at more than 100 international venues, and she has received awards in art and journalism from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the World Press Photo Foundation, the Open Society Institute Documentary Fund, and many more.

The free lecture is part of the John M. Anderson Endowed Lecture Series, hosted by Penn State’s School of Visual Arts, and is open to the public.