Private Story
Through a Woman's Lens
Milwaukee Art Museum
December 3, 2020 - March 14, 2021
American photographer Susan Meiselas (b. 1948) seeks to bear witness to stories that might otherwise go unnoticed. She has traveled from rural county fairs to conflict-ridden Central America, working closely and over long periods with her subjects, focusing her lens on what she thinks the public needs to see. A member of the international photographic cooperative Magnum Photos since 1976, Meiselas creates photographs that raise provocative questions about the documentary practice and the relationship between photographer and subject.
Susan Meiselas: Through a Woman’s Lens presents never-before-shown photographs alongside iconic series that reflect the artist’s ongoing commitment to sharing the stories of women.
"Guided by her intuition, she has often focused on the lives and perspectives of women on the edges of the mainstream—narratives that might have been otherwise overlooked. She has brought a unique point of view to a field historically dominated by men, and, taken together, her photographs have fostered a rich and diverse portrait of women, encompassing friendships and family bonds, human rights issues and military conflicts...
Complete immersion, according to the artist, has been key to approaching the people she works with, understanding their perspectives, and making pictures that reveal complicated truths. This process underscores how Meiselas has negotiated the responsibility of connecting the people in her photographs to a broader audience, as well as her longstanding interest in interrogating the ethics of seeing." - Lisa Sutcliffe
Curated by Lisa Sutcliffe, Herzfeld Curator of Photography and Media Arts and presented in collaboration with the Feminist Art Coalition.
Take a full tour of the Virtual Exhibition here.
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