Exhibition
23.10 – 21.11
2026
Susan Meiselas
Carnival Strippers
45 Maddox Street, W1S 2PE

Huxley-Parlour Photographs is delighted to announce Carnival Strippers by Susan Meiselas, the gallery’s inaugural exhibition with the acclaimed photographer. Meiselas’ seminal project documented sex-workers between 1972 and 1975 as they toured the Northeastern United States. Issues surrounding gender politics, women’s agency, and exchanges of power are revealed through Meiselas’s photographs, recorded interviews, and sociological explorations of the world of sex-work.

Download press release

Featured Works
Lena after the show, Essex, Vermont

Susan Meiselas

Lena after the show, Essex, Vermont, 1973

Silver gelatin print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
Tentful of marks, Tunbridge, Vermont

Susan Meiselas

Tentful of marks, Tunbridge, Vermont, 1974

Silver gelatin print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
Curtain call, Essex Junction, Vermont

Susan Meiselas

Curtain call, Essex Junction, Vermont, 1973

Silver gelatin print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
New York City

Susan Meiselas

New York City, 1963

Silver gelatin print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
Sammy, Essex, Vermont

Susan Meiselas

Sammy, Essex, Vermont, 1974

Silver gelatin print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
Lena's first day, Essex, Vermont

Susan Meiselas

Lena's first day, Essex, Vermont, 1973

Silver gelatin print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
Lena in the motel, Barton, Vermont

Susan Meiselas

Lena in the motel, Barton, Vermont, 1974

Silver gelatin print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
Shortie on the Bally, Barton, Vermont

Susan Meiselas

Shortie on the Bally, Barton, Vermont, 1974

Silver gelatin print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
New Girl, Tunbridge, Vermont

Susan Meiselas

New Girl, Tunbridge, Vermont, 1975

Silver gelatin print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
Mitzi's Shoes, Tunbridge, Vermont

Susan Meiselas

Mitzi's Shoes, Tunbridge, Vermont, 1974

Silver gelatin print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
Shortie Checks the Stage, Presque Isle, Maine

Susan Meiselas

Shortie Checks the Stage, Presque Isle, Maine, 1973

Silver gelatin print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
Teen Dream, Woodstock, Vermont

Susan Meiselas

Teen Dream, Woodstock, Vermont, 1973

Silver gelatin print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
Lena, Barton, Vermont

Susan Meiselas

Lena, Barton, Vermont, 1974

Silver gelatin print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
Larry and his girl, Fryeburg, Maine

Susan Meiselas

Larry and his girl, Fryeburg, Maine, 1975

Silver gelatin print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
Waiting for the tent to fill, Essex, Vermont

Susan Meiselas

Waiting for the tent to fill, Essex, Vermont, 1973

Silver gelatin print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
Before the show, Tunbridge, Vermont

Susan Meiselas

Before the show, Tunbridge, Vermont, 1973

Silver gelatin print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
Before the show, Tunbridge, Vermont

Susan Meiselas

Before the show, Tunbridge, Vermont, 1974

Silver gelatin print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
Tent entrance for Star and Garter, Essex Junction, Vermont

Susan Meiselas

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

C-type print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
Shortie’s Day Off, Presque Isle, Maine

Susan Meiselas

Shortie’s Day Off, Presque Isle, Maine, 1973

C-type print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
Shortie watches, Essex Junction, Vermont

Susan Meiselas

Shortie watches, Essex Junction, Vermont, 1973

C-type print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
Shortie takes over the Bally, Barton, Vermont

Susan Meiselas

Shortie takes over the Bally, Barton, Vermont, 1974

C-type print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
Lena waits for a break, Essex Junction, Vermont

Susan Meiselas

Lena waits for a break, Essex Junction, Vermont, 1973

C-type print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
Girl Show Pin-Up, Barton, Vermont

Susan Meiselas

Girl Show Pin-Up, Barton, Vermont, 1974

C-type print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse
Doffed, Allentown, Pennsylvania

Susan Meiselas

Doffed, Allentown, Pennsylvania, 1972

C-type print
Signed, inscribed with title and date, and numbered on reverse

Biography

For over five decades, American documentary photographer Susan Meiselas has examined conflict, human rights and the relationship between individual experience and wider social and political histories.

From her early series Carnival Strippers (1976) and landmark photographs of the Nicaraguan insurrection to later projects including Kurdistan: In the Shadow of History (1997) and A Room of Their Own (2017), Meiselas has continually questioned the conventions and ethics of documentary photography, particularly the relationship between photographer and subject, and the ways in which images acquire meaning through their circulation and evolving contexts. Extending beyond photography to encompass film, archival research, oral testimony, publications and collaborative projects, her practice is characterised by her sustained engagement with the people and communities she documents. By returning repeatedly to previously photographed subjects and places, incorporating multiple voices and recontextualising both her own and found images, Meiselas challenges the authority of the photographer as a singular narrator. Her work instead approaches documentary photography as an evolving process of testimony and exchange, foregrounding the experiences of the individuals and communities it presents.

Susan Meiselas was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1948. In 1970 she received her BA from Sarah Lawrence College and earned an MA in visual education from Harvard University in 1971. She joined Magnum Photos in 1976 and has worked as a freelance photographer since then. Since its founding in 2007, Meiselas has also served as President of the Magnum Foundation, whose mission is to expand diversity and creativity in documentary photography. Meiselas is the recipient of numerous awards and honours, including the Robert Capa Gold Medal (1979); Leica Award for Excellence (1982); MacArthur Fellowship (1992); Hasselblad Foundation Photography Prize (1994); Guggenheim Fellowship (2015); Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize (2019); and the Henri Cartier-Bresson Lifetime Achievement Award and Sony Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award (2025). Selected publications and projects include Carnival Strippers (1976); Nicaragua, June 1978–July 1979 (1981); Kurdistan: In the Shadow of History (2008); Pandora’s Box (2001); and A Room of Their Own (2017). Meiselas has also presented solo exhibitions internationally. In 2000, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, presented a solo exhibition of Carnival Strippers and her first retrospective, In History, was produced with the International Center of Photography in 2008. A major survey spanning five decades of her practice, Mediations, was co-curated by Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, and Jeu de Paume, Paris, in 2017–18, before travelling to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; C/O Berlin; FOMU, Antwerp; and other European venues. Her work is held in major international collections, including the Museum of Modern Art and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Meiselas currently lives and works in New York.