Susan Meiselas

Photographer

www.susanmeiselas.com

Carnival Strippers Making Of

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Location: New York City, New York

Nationality: American

Biography: Susan Meiselas, born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1948, received her BA from Sarah Lawrence College and her MA in visual education from Harvard University. Her first major photographic essay focused on the lives of women doing striptease at New... MORE

Contact frame of Lena on the Bally, Essex Junction, Vermont, 1973

Book dummy for first edition of Carnival Strippers, page 1, 1975

Book dummy for first edition of...ival Strippers , page 2-3, 1975

Book dummy for first edition of Carnival Strippers, page 2-3, 1975

Making Of is a partial recovery, both of what was eliminated and what was nearly forgotten. The first section shares a visual selection of some early color images and work prints, initially considered for inclusion in the original book but not chosen or seen again until this publication. These photographs were buried, along with the many memories of the exchanges and relationships that helped me find and shape my future path in photography to become a practice of presence. I learned to merge listening and looking, with the hope of expanding perspectives of what are often invisible worlds.

- S.M., August 2021

Susan Meiselas, field notebook, 1973–75

The Tent, Essex Junction, Vermont, September 1974

Susan Meiselas, field notebook, 1973–75

Star and Garter I, Essex Junction, Vermont, September 1974

By virtue of the date of its production, its material fabrication—black-and-white analog photography, a hand-held Leica—and its depiction of a now-vanished milieu, Carnival Strippers has become a historical document. This means that its diverse components, including photographs, sound recordings, written transcriptions, and correspondence between Meiselas and her subjects, have come together (and now more or less live together) as a particular archive. As an archive—and as Meiselas emphasized in the eponymous title of her 2008 exhibition and catalog—the photographer and her subjects are inescapably embedded In History.

- Abigail Solomon-Godeau, “Reading Carnival Strippers in 2021”

Girl Show Pin-Up, Barton, Vermont, August 1974

American Girl, Barton, Vermont, August 1974

Club Flamingo, Essex Junction, Vermont, August 1973

Susan Meiselas, research from file card collection

Star and Garter II, Woodstock, Vermont, August 1973

Based on the analysis of the archive, this project can now be understood as an ethnological long-term study in which letters, interviews, and friendships are documented in a textual and visual diary…Similar to an experiment, Meiselas considered which options produced a better sounding board. The gaze of this woman on the lives of other women becomes a profound exchange that is reflected in many documents: for years several of the women sent her letters, photographs, and other memories from the period, demonstrating that they were interested in continuing the exchange. In this way Meiselas’s campaign turned into a long-term project, one of the most profound examination of social issues of economy, gender relationships, and image culture in contemporary photography.

- Felix Hoffmann, "Revisiting Susan Meiselas’s Carnival Strippers," 2021

Susan Meiselas, notes for sound recordings, 1973

Gay New Orleans Bally Call, Brockton, Massachusetts, June 1972

Transcription of audiotape with Joe the Barker

The Star Tease, Tunbridge, Vermont, 1975

Transcription of audiotape with Lisa

Donned, Allentown, Pennsylvania, August 1972

Doffed, Allentown, Pennsylvania, August 1972

There were many long days, sitting around waiting for the night, with nothing to do except watch the crowd gather or the tent fill. There was the boredom, their alienation, and the slow connection I felt while accompanying the women, sustained by hearing about and seeing the contradictions their work imposed, witnessing them perform their sexuality, and wondering about my own.

- S.M., August 2021

Slow Night at Club Flamingo, Essex Junction, Vermont, 1973

Shortie Waits, Essex Junction, Vermont, September 1973

Shortie Watches, Essex Junction, Vermont, September 1973

The last section of Making Of is a look backwards into the bookmaking: it flows from the proofs with printer notations, to contacts sheets—still marked with initials, including L for Lena and T for Tom, or grease pencils of various editing preferences. These are complemented with pages from my handwritten field notebook, selected correspondence, quotes from initial historical research, as well as typed transcriptions of extensive audio recordings.

- S.M., August 2021

Susan Meiselas, field notebook, 1973–75

Stack of printer’s pr...e Bally, Barton, Vermont , 1974

Stack of printer’s proofs with Lena on the Bally, Barton, Vermont, 1974

Contact sheet with Mitzi, Tunbridge, Vermont, 1974

Printer's proof of&...itzi, Tunbridge, Vermont , 1974

Printer's proof of Mitzi, Tunbridge, Vermont, 1974

Contact sheet with  Le...e Crowd, Barton, Vermont , 1974

Contact sheet with Lena Waiting for the Crowd, Barton, Vermont, 1974

Work print of Lena Waiting for the Crowd, Barton, Vermont, 1974

Contact sheet with Lena Looking Out, Barton, Vermont, 1974

Work print of Lena Looking Out, Barton, Vermont, 1974

Contact sheet with Giving Herself, Barton, Vermont, 1974

Work print of Giving Herself, Barton, Vermont, 1974

Contact sheets share a feeling of time, my waiting for “a decisive moment,” while revealing the misses and my mind’s eye at work. Making Of begins to peel back some of the layers, reclaiming my belief in the possibility of mutual engagement with both subjects and readers through photography. Every choice becomes an act to recover and reveal oneself alongside others.

- S.M., August 2021

Shortie Takes over the Bally, Barton, Vermont, 1974

Contact frame of Shortie on the Bally, Barton, Vermont, 1974

Tent Entrance for Star and Garter, Essex Junction, Vermont, 1974

Contact frame with The Managers... Essex Junction, Vermont , 1974

Contact frame with The Managers, Star and Garter, Essex Junction, Vermont, 1974

Lena Waits for a Break, Essex Junction, Vermont, September 1973

Contact frame with  Le...ction, Vermont , September 1973

Contact frame with Lena on Break, Essex Junction, Vermont, September 1973

In my subsequent letter to Patty, the manager who opened the door to the girl shows, I acknowledge that “in places the work is caught by my naivete, that which made it possible and necessary to do.” Although I was hopeful that viewers would consider the subtlety of what was portrayed, I wrote to Patty that what is “even more important will be what you and others will think and feel.” Patty, Shortie and Lena, and the others I came to know best are no longer here, but I feel their presence in my interrogation of the past and in the dialogue about this edition. Our time together was a gift.

- S.M., August 2021

Susan Meiselas, letter to Patty, August 22, 1976

Meiselas’s approach radiates and reaches another generation that strives to look at history with other means in order to find new ways to tell it and to test her own limits. The greatest gift is that we are now aware of the images and documents that show this process, with which one can see how a generation tried to actively liberate itself from the dregs of visual codes and limitations.

- Felix Hoffmann, "Revisiting Susan Meiselas's Carnival Strippers," 2021

Stage Show at Casa del Rio, Tunbridge, Vermont, September 1975

Night Ends at Casa del Rio, Tunbridge, Vermont, September 1975

PLAY

STOP

GRID

FULL

LOVE

Thumbnail of Contact frame of Lena on the Bally, Essex Junction, Vermont , 1973

Thumbnail of Book dummy for first edition of Carnival Strippers , page 1, 1975

Thumbnail of Book dummy for first edition of _nival Strippers , page 2-3, 1975

Thumbnail of Susan Meiselas, field notebook, 1973–75

Thumbnail of The Tent, Essex Junction, Vermont , September 1974

Thumbnail of Star and Garter I, Essex Junction, Vermont , September 1974

Thumbnail of Girl Show Pin-Up, Barton, Vermont , August 1974

Thumbnail of American Girl, Barton, Vermont , August 1974

Thumbnail of Club Flamingo, Essex Junction, Vermont , August 1973

Thumbnail of Susan Meiselas, research from file card collection

Thumbnail of Star and Garter II, Woodstock, Vermont , August 1973

Thumbnail of Susan Meiselas, notes for sound recordings, 1973

Thumbnail of Gay New Orleans Bally Call, Brockton, Massachusetts , June 1972

Thumbnail of Transcription of audiotape with Joe the Barker

Thumbnail of The Star Tease, Tunbridge, Vermont , 1975

Thumbnail of Transcription of audiotape with Lisa

Thumbnail of Donned, Allentown, Pennsylvania , August 1972

Thumbnail of Doffed, Allentown, Pennsylvania , August 1972

Thumbnail of Slow Night at Club Flamingo, Essex Junction, Vermont , 1973

Thumbnail of Shortie Waits, Essex Junction, Vermon t, September 1973

Thumbnail of Shortie Watches, Essex Junction, Vermont , September 1973

Thumbnail of Stack of printer’s pro_he Bally, Barton, Vermont , 1974

Thumbnail of Contact sheet with Mitzi, Tunbridge, Vermont , 1974

Thumbnail of Printer's proof of&n_Mitzi, Tunbridge, Vermont , 1974

Thumbnail of Contact sheet with  Len_he Crowd, Barton, Vermont , 1974

Thumbnail of Work print of Lena Waiting for the Crowd, Barton, Vermont , 1974

Thumbnail of Contact sheet with Lena Looking Out, Barton, Vermont , 1974

Thumbnail of Work print of  Lena Looking Out, Barton, Vermont , 1974

Thumbnail of Contact sheet with Giving Herself, Barton, Vermont , 1974

Thumbnail of Work print of  Giving Herself, Barton, Vermont , 1974

Thumbnail of Shortie Takes over the Bally, Barton, Vermont , 1974

Thumbnail of Contact frame of Shortie on the Bally, Barton, Vermont , 1974

Thumbnail of Tent Entrance for Star and Garter, Essex Junction, Vermont , 1974

Thumbnail of Contact frame with The Managers,_, Essex Junction, Vermont , 1974

Thumbnail of Lena Waits for a Break, Essex Junction, Vermont , September 1973

Thumbnail of Contact frame with  Len_nction, Vermont , September 1973

Thumbnail of Susan Meiselas, letter to Patty, August 22, 1976

Thumbnail of Stage Show at Casa del Rio, Tunbridge, Vermont , September 1975

Thumbnail of Night Ends at Casa del Rio, Tunbridge, Vermont , September 1975

Private Story

Carnival Strippers Making Of

Copyright Susan Meiselas 2024

Updated Feb 2022

Topics Photography

The opportunity to prepare a third edition of Carnival Strippers has brought me to revisit my work from nearly fifty years ago. For decades, no one has looked at the box from which this collection of archival materials came. Viewing it now, I can remember the endless hours leading from months into a year, transcribing words by hand, excerpting quotes from many conversations onto file cards, then sitting on the floor and weaving those cards between images to create a narrative context. Recognizing the limits of what photographs alone could do, I had to imagine a different form to engage readers in the nuanced experience of the girl shows. I chose to portray the women, their working lives, and clients with a filmic approach inviting a total immersion.

- S.M., August 2021

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Susan Meiselas

Also by Susan Meiselas —

Miss Nude

Miss Olympia

A Photographic Genealogy - The History of Lando

Lando Student Work

West Virginia

PSG Contact Sheets

MAM test

MAM Exhibition

360 Virtual Exhibition

360 Virtual Videos

Day of Outrage (1987- 1988)

Artifacts

Porto Exhibition

Mediations Kurdistan

Mediations Domestic Violence

Mediations Pandora

Mediations Central America

Early Years

Eyes Open Book

Eyes Open

Porto

Through a Woman's Lens

Preparation and Installation

Crossings