Fotograf Magazine

Although the American photographer Susan Meiselas (b. 1948) has been a member of the Magnum agency since 1976, from the very beginning of her career her work has transcended the traditional notions of photojournalism. Chronicling the life and “work” of fairground strippers in New England, the revolutionary years in Nicaragua or the situation in Kurdistan, her projects invariably bring into focus the broader context of her chosen theme (often supported by an ingenious multi-level presentation of the resultant images) and above all the position of the photographic subject within it. A responsible approach to subject matter, a sense of personal engagement, an awareness of how images work throughout time, their place in human memory, an acute sense of how photographs acquire a life of their own after publication – all of these are elements that define the photographic oeuvre of Susan Meiselas.