Susan Meiselas is a documentary photographer based in New York. She is the author of Carnival Strippers (1976), Nicaragua (1981), Kurdistan: In the Shadow of History (1997), Pandora’s Box (2001), Encounters with the Dani (2003), Prince Street Girls (2016), A Room of Their Own (2017), Tar Beach (2020) and Carnival Strippers Revisited (2022).

Meiselas is well known for her documentation of human rights issues in Latin America. Her photographs are included in North American and international collections.

In 1992 she was made a MacArthur Fellow and received a Guggenheim Fellowship (2015). Most recently, she received the Sony Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award (2025), the first Women in Motion Award from Kering and the Rencontres d’Arles (2019), the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize (2019), and the Erich Salomon Award of the German Society for Photography (2022).

Mediations, a survey exhibition of her work from the 1970s to present was initiated by the Jeu de Paume in Paris and traveled to Fundació Antoni Tàpies, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Instituto Moreira Salles in São Paulo, among others.

Meiselas has been the President of the Magnum Foundation since 2007, with a mission to expand diversity and creativity in documentary photography.

Website: www.susanmeiselas.com

Join us for Summit Photo 2025

From 26 to 28 September, the Society hosts its first edition of Summit Photo.

This is a rare opportunity to hear from internationally renowned photographers in conversation with explorers and policymakers. Through talks, presentations, and exhibitions, they’ll explore how photography can address the global challenges of our time.

Join our three-day summit dedicated to photography and photojournalism.

Book your tickets now

Three seals on a small iceberg in the middle of the sea with snow-covered mountain in the background