Category — ICP (Meiselas and Capa)

Going through Susan Meiselas’s work at the International Center of Photography (ICP) was truly breathtaking. Never before have I been exposed to such “in your face” photography. I was taken back with one of her works, her Carnival Strippers project, but Meiselas’s other piece about the political revolutions down in Central America did more than tell a story, her photos put the viewer in the story. [Read more →]

Capa’s startling black and white photographs brought out the sympathy that usually resides deep in my being, back by the spine, slick with cynic oil.  I saw the solemn eyes peering between barbed wire and somehow felt chills of recognition down my spine.  [Read more →]

 Susan Meiselas’s decision to pursue photography has taken her around the world. From Nicaragua, El Salvador, small towns and even South Bronx Mieselas had focused on capturing the horror of war ravaged and impoverished nations. In her series “Carnival Strippers” she focused on following the itinerary of carnival strippers. She took pictures not only of their performances but their own personal moments when they stopped being entertainers on stage and started being human. [Read more →]

The International Center of Photography is home to many examples of excellent photography. Various exhibitions line the walls and one of these is by the renowned photographer, Susan Meiselas. Ms. Meiselas took a series of pictures of the conflict in Nicaragua in the late 1970’s. It takes a special kind of person to take pictures on a field of battle because of the vast amount of risk involved. It is not exactly safe to go around snapping pictures of armed factions who are currently at war. Ms. Meiselas was able to not only document the conflict but to capture the emotions of the combatants. She took many photos that showed the humanity of war and the conditions that people find themselves in. [Read more →]

Cuesta del plomo, hillside outside Managua-a well known site of many assassinations carried out by the National Guard

Susan Meiselas is a photographer best known for her committed coverage of political conflicts in Central America during the 1970s and 80s.  She was very concerned with issues of nationalism and identity.  Three of her most famous projects are Carnival Strippers (1972-1976), Nicaragua (1978-2004), and Kurdistan (1991-present).  Currently, her works from these projects are exhibited in New York’s International Center of Photography, to which we took a class trip.  [Read more →]

Susan Meiselas went places during times when I would have been constantly looking over my shoulder, not through my camera’s lens.  She saw terrible, radical things happen around her and instead of getting lost in the flurry, pulled back and took picture after picture, documenting rather then participating.  Though it’s not that simple.  There were a few photos that as I looked on, I tried to imagine the situation she was in, the immense emotions that she may have tried to keep at bay with her camera.  [Read more →]

           The International Center of Photography, one of the world’s premier exhibitors of photographic art, currently contains works from renowned photographer Susan Meiselas. Best known for her coverage of political conflicts in Central America, Meseilas explored “issues of nationalism and identity.” Organized by Kristen Lubben, Susan Meiselas: In History includes three of her main projects: Carnival Strippers (1972-76); Nicaragua (1978-present); and Kurdistan (1991-present). Meiselas sets herself apart through her exceptional ability to encompass her photographs with “larger contexts and deeper histories.” Her desire to capture and reveal the truths of the world places her as a “leading voice in the debate on contemporary documentary practice.”

           Walking down the stairs, we are immediately struck by an array of vibrant and powerful colors in Meiselas’ images. Although each project has a beauty and meaning of its own, Nicaragua, is perhaps her most controversial, gruesome, and disturbing work. [Read more →]

We often idealize war. When we think of war photography, we try to look for smiles of the people, welcoming the victors in the war, or the war heroes, who risked their life for the people of their countries. Susan Meiselas’s war photographs tell a different aspect of war, the millions of casualties. [Read more →]

The photography of Susan Meiselas captures the political conflicts and struggles in Central America during the 1970s and 80s. What is so great about her collections is her portrayal of the struggles of her subjects. Her images seem to reconstruct history and trigger the memory of those who feel connected to the time period of the subjects. [Read more →]

Source: www.icp.org, Political dissidents arrested after the assassination of Nicaraguan dictator, Anastasio Somoza, Managua

Upon entrance to the museum of the International Center of Photography, one’s eye is instantly drawn to a gargantuan photograph portraying political dissidents imprisoned in Nicaragua.  The viewer’s eye, adequately appalled by the repugnance of the picture’s contents, fails to read the text accompanying the photograph.  While that wall of text lists many of the photographer’s accomplishments, those words do Cornell Capa no justice.  Like any artist, the story of Capa’s life is not his biography but, rather, the works that he created.   [Read more →]