The DC Street Photography Collective, DCSPC, is proud to present a night of photography at Slash Run. This event will feature a presentation by Meryl Meisler, a NYC-based photographer who shot NYC and its environs in the 70's & 80s. She has published two acclaimed photobooks, Purgatory & Paradise: SASSY ‘70s Suburbia & The City and A Tale of Two Cities: Disco Era Bushwick. She will be focussing her talk on her queer photography from the female perspective by showing work from the heydays of disco some LGBTQ scenes today. In addition, there is an open call to DMV photographers to participate in a critique with Meisler and members of DCSPC.
Call for Entry
To participate submit 3-5 photographs 2000 px on the long edge at 72 DPI to thedcspc@gmail.com for consideration, deadline is Sunday Apr. 5th at midnight EST.
About Meryl Meisler
Meryl Meisler was born 1951 in the South Bronx and raised in North Massapequa, Long Island, NY. Inspired by Diane Arbus, Jacques Henri Lartigue as well as her dad Jack and grandfather Murray Meisler, Meryl began photographing herself, family, and friends. In 1975, Meryl moved to New York City and studied with Lisette Model, continuing to photograph her hometown and the city around her. After working as a freelance illustrator by day, Meryl frequented and photographed the infamous New York Discos. As a 1978 CETA Artist grant recipient, Meryl created a portfolio of photographs which explored her Jewish Identity for the American Jewish Congress. After CETA, Meryl began a 3-decade career as a NYC Public School Art Teacher.
Upon retiring from the NYC public schools, Meisler began releasing large bodies of previously unseen work. Meryl’s first monograph A Tale of Two Cities: Disco Era Bushwick (Bizarre, 2014), received international acclaim. The book juxtaposes her zenith of disco photos with images of the burned out yet beautiful neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn in the 1980s. Her second book, Purgatory & Paradise SASSY ‘70s Suburbia & The City (Bizarre, 2015), contrasts intimate images of home life on Long Island alongside NYC street and night life.
She is happily back working in the darkroom, making gelatin silver prints of contemporary images and never seen photos from her enormous archive. New York PARADISE LOST Bushwick Era Disco (Bizarre, Fall 2020) will be bigger, badder, bolder and make her first books seem like fairytales.
Meryl lives and works in New York City and Woodstock, NY, continuing the photographic memoir she began in 1973 – a uniquely American story, sweet and sassy with a pinch of mystery.