Susan Meiselas (born 1948) is an American documentary photographer. Meiselas joined Magnum Photos in 1976 and has worked as a freelance photographer since then. She is best known for her coverage of the insurrection in Nicaragua and her documentation of human rights issues in Latin America, which were published widely throughout the world.
Susan Meiselas received her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and her M.A. in visual education from Harvard University. Her first major photographic essay focused on the lives of women doing striptease at New England country fairs. She photographed the carnivals during three consecutive summers while teaching photography in the New York public schools.
Before becoming a professional photographer, Susan Meiselas studied anthropology – the influence of which is still evident in the subject matter and methodology of her work today.
In the summer of 1972, Meiselas travelled around the Midwest photographing the “carnies” working on Carnival rides and fairs. This project was not really planned and just happened by accident. She literally stumbled across a “girlie show”. Meiselas was able to gained access to the tent and its strip shows and her grainy images reflect this tough, unglamorous world and the interactions of those inhabiting it.
Meiselas used a Leica to be as unobtrusive as possible, and these images, particularly those taken in the tent, are shocking. Although the men were aware of the camera they were still fully focused on the women on stage, their eyes wide, their bodies were close to the object of their desire.
Meiselas returned for three summers to photograph, She built up a relationship of mutual trust and in some case friendship with the strippers. She worked with them to edit the images and the portraiture was done for their benefit, providing them an opportunity to present themselves as they wished. Most heartbreaking is Lena’s story: one of the girls to whom Meiselas became most close. Her taped interviews record an articulate young woman who quickly becomes only too aware of her role “we aren’t professional show girls, we’re prostitutes pretending to be show girls”.
Carnival Strippers basically captured the lives of marginalised people fighting to maintain a sense of identity and self worth – within the context of sexual interaction and gender politics in Western society. Carnival Strippers’ edgy black and white action shots and portraiture.
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