A selection of works by the American photographer Susan Meiselas from the 1970s to today, revealing her special approach to the underlying reasons for making photographs, how the image concerns its subject as much as the photographer and the role that these images can have at different levels in society and particularly in photojournalism.
Susan questions the relationship between the image and the subject in such a way as to include the people portrayed in the image in the image-making process. There is nothing systematic in her approach: each work expresses in a very strong manner the notion that context is vital to the understanding of photography. Therefore, her work is specific to the persons portrayed, to the notion of community to which they belong and to the geographic and political localities that the artist explores. The way of showing the work is equally a part of the thought process. How does the spectator behold the artwork? It often comprises many parts, made in different media: each "layer" is used to document a level of meaning. For Meiselas, one should be able to grasp why the image was taken. Both the subject of the image and the context in which the images are shown are taken into account in the elaboration of each project.
Published on the occasion of the eponymous exhibition at
Jeu de Paume, Paris, in 2018.
A member of Magnum Photos since 1976, Susan Meiselas (born 1948 in Baltimore) questions documentary practice. She became known through her work in conflict zones of Central America in the 1970s and 1980s in particular due to the strength of her colour photographs. Covering many subjects and countries, from war to human rights issues and from cultural identity to the sex industry, Meiselas uses photography, film, video and sometimes archive material, as she relentlessly explores and develops narratives integrating the participation of her subjects in her works.
