| Dates: | 1948, 21 June - | | Born: | US, MD, Baltimore | | Active: | US | | Gender: | Female |
American photojournalist who started out with a study of Carnival Strippers. Her photographs of the dirty war in Nicaragua were a head-on horror story of a region out of control.Preparing biographies
Biography provided by Focal Press
Meiselas has a BA degree (1970) in anthropology from Sarah Lawrence College and an MA in education from Harvard where she took her first photography course in 1971. She consulted with Polaroid Corporation on strategies for visual education in the nation’s classrooms. Her earliest documentary book, Carnival Strippers (1976), is distinguished by her method of obtaining many of the images — she disguised herself as a man to gain entry to strip shows with her concealed camera. As a gatherer of "fact," she also made behind-the-scene images and sound recordings of women strippers she interviewed. Much of her career has been marked by involvement with the cultures and conflicts in Central America, particularly Nicaragua. Due to her tenacity and resourcefulness, she produced (and later published) an incredible record of civil war in Nicaragua (1978–1979) after determining that she needed to put herself in jeopardy in order to make the most compelling photographs. When she arrived alone in Managua she had little equipment, no press credentials, and could barely speak Spanish. She later documented civil strife in El Salvador, risking her life in areas where the government had banned all journalists. Her color photography documenting civil unrest is not so much a recording of "war" as it is a multi-layered view of a people’s struggle to define and preserve their culture, religion, and methods of government. Meiselas has been a member of Magnum since 1976 and has had work published in Time, LIFE, The New York Times, GEO, and Paris Match among many other titles. She recently has documented events and peoples in Kurdistan and New Guinea.
(Author: Ken White - Rochester Institute of Technology)
Michael Peres (Editor-in-Chief), 2007, Focal Encyclopedia of Photography, 4th edition, (Focal Press) [ISBN-10: 0240807405, ISBN-13: 978-0240807409]
(Used with permission)
Readings on, or by, individual photographers
Meiselas, Susan, 1981, Nicaragua From June 1978–July 1979, (New York: Pantheon) [Δ]
Meiselas, Susan, 1997, Kurdistan: In the Shadow of History, (New York: Random House) [Δ]
Meiselas, Susan, 2001, Pandora’s Box, (London and New York: Trebruk) [Δ]
Meiselas, Susan, 2003, Encounters with the Dani: Stories from the Baliem Valley, (Steidl) isbn-10: 3882439300 isbn-13: 978-3882439304 [Δ]
If you feel this list is missing a significant book or article please let me know - Alan - alan@luminous-lint.com | | Portraits
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