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Tom, the tawker, Tunbridge, Vermont, USA
Susan Meiselas (American, born in 1948)
1974
Medium/Technique
Silver gelatin
Dimensions
Image: 27.9 × 35.6 cm (11 × 14 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds donated by John and Cynthia Reed, and Scott Offen, and from the Barbara M. Marshall Fund and the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Fund for Photography
Accession Number2021.595
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPhotographs
Susan Meiselas considers herself as coming out of a “Boston School” of photography and has led a groundbreaking international career as a freelance photographer since 1976. Her photographs bear witness to history through her documentation of often untold stories of war and human rights, cultural identities, and domestic violence. A large part of her career has been dedicated to photographing women on the margins of society, focusing on their overlooked lives and perspectives.
This photograph is from the “Carnival Strippers” series, all special vintage prints, and were all taken in New England. Meiselas spent her summers between 1972 and 1975 photographing and interviewing women who performed striptease at county fairs across New England, during a time when only men were allowed inside “the girl show.” In an effort to understand the world of carnival strippers from within, Meiselas’s approach was to connect and develop relationships with the women. She got to know them over time, photographed all aspects of their lives both onstage and off and recorded audio interviews with the women, their partners, show managers, and customers.
In the context of the women’s liberation movement of the 1970s, Meiselas’s goal was to bring the women’s voices forward about their own work. Meiselas recalls that many feminists at the time saw striptease shows as exploitive and saw the women as victims. She sought to provide a more nuanced feminist perspective by focusing on the women’s own lived experiences as a way to reveal the power dynamics. Meiselas’s “Carnival Strippers” series and book, published in 1976, brought forth an unknown world of striptease shows by focusing on the women’s points of views and their voices.
This photograph displays Meiselas’s intimate portrayal of women before, during, and after their shows as well as a few images of managers and audience members. Meiselas captures the performers from an insider’s point of view, while telling a larger story about a complicated aspect of popular culture in the United States. (At the time this photograph was taken, county fairs counted about 85 million visitors per year! )
This photograph is from the “Carnival Strippers” series, all special vintage prints, and were all taken in New England. Meiselas spent her summers between 1972 and 1975 photographing and interviewing women who performed striptease at county fairs across New England, during a time when only men were allowed inside “the girl show.” In an effort to understand the world of carnival strippers from within, Meiselas’s approach was to connect and develop relationships with the women. She got to know them over time, photographed all aspects of their lives both onstage and off and recorded audio interviews with the women, their partners, show managers, and customers.
In the context of the women’s liberation movement of the 1970s, Meiselas’s goal was to bring the women’s voices forward about their own work. Meiselas recalls that many feminists at the time saw striptease shows as exploitive and saw the women as victims. She sought to provide a more nuanced feminist perspective by focusing on the women’s own lived experiences as a way to reveal the power dynamics. Meiselas’s “Carnival Strippers” series and book, published in 1976, brought forth an unknown world of striptease shows by focusing on the women’s points of views and their voices.
This photograph displays Meiselas’s intimate portrayal of women before, during, and after their shows as well as a few images of managers and audience members. Meiselas captures the performers from an insider’s point of view, while telling a larger story about a complicated aspect of popular culture in the United States. (At the time this photograph was taken, county fairs counted about 85 million visitors per year! )
InscriptionsPencil on verso: 7400C-18/8; 3 & 76
Provenance2021, sold by the artist to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 30, 2021)
Copyright© Susan Meiselas / Magnum Photos