Meryl Meisler

Meryl Meisler was born 1951 in the South Bronx and raised in North Massapequa, Long Island, New York. Inspired by photographers such as Diane Arbus and Jacques Henri Lartigue, as well as her dad, Jack, and grandfather, Murray Meisler, Meryl Meisler began photographing herself, family, and friends while enrolled in a photography class taught by Cavalliere Ketchum at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 1975, Meisler returned 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, Meisler frequented and photographed the infamous New York discos. As a 1978 C.E.T.A. Artist grant recipient, Meisler created a portfolio of photographs which explored her Jewish identity for the American Jewish Congress. After C.E.T.A., Meisler began a three-decade career as a NYC Public School Art Teacher.

Meisler has received fellowships, grants, and residencies from the New York Foundation for the Arts, Light Work, YADDO, The Puffin Foundation, Time Warner, Artists Space, C.E.T.A., the China Institute, and the Japan Society. Her work has been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Historical Society, Dia Art Foundation, MASS MoCA, Islip Art Museum, Annenberg Space for Photography, the New Museum for Contemporary Art, New-York Historical Society, Steven Kasher Gallery, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and in public spaces including Grand Central Terminal, South Street Seaport, Photoville, and throughout the New York City subway system.

Her work is in the permanent collections of the American Jewish Congress, ARTPPOOL Budapest, AT&T, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Brooklyn Historical Society, Book Art Museum (Poland), Columbia University, Emory University, Islip Art Museum, the Library of Congress, Musée de la Poste Paris, Smithsonian Institute, University of Iowa, and The Waskomium, and can be found in the artist book collections of Carnegie Mellon, the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Chrysler Museum, Museum of Modern Art (NYC), Metronome Library, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Meryl Meisler is represented by ClampArt Gallery.

“Meryl Meisler I New York Paradise Lost” Solo show at FOTOGALERIE Friedrichshain, Berlin, Germany through November 26, 2021

“Paradise Lost & Found: Bushwick”, Photoville installation at IS 291 – Roland Hayes Schoolyard Fence, (the school where Meryl taught and photographed school and street life), Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY through December 01, 2021

© Meryl Meisler courtesy of ClampArt Gallery, New York PARADISE LOST Bushwick Era Disco Book Cover, PUSSY and Dick, Bushwick, Brooklyn NY 1982

Interview by Dana Stirling

First, can you tell us a little on your background and how you first started with photography?

I was born in the Bronx and raised in N. Massapequa, Long Island, NY.

The love of photography is part of my heritage. My dad Jack, a printer by trade, was an avid photographer, as was his brother Al and their father Murray Meisler. Dad’s subject was our family; he documented all our life events.

At  age seven, my parents gave “ADVENTURER” a 620 box camera. For my sweet sixteen, I got an Instamatic and used it through my teens and undergraduate school. In graduate school, at the University of Wisconsin, I thought it would be a good idea to use a “real camera”, so I enrolled in my first photography class.

© Meryl Meisler courtesy of ClampArt Gallery, Shirtless Man Wearing Hood and Jeans, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY 1982

© Meryl Meisler courtesy of ClampArt Gallery, The Gospel Tabernacle and Linden Bakery, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY 1983

Your new monograph titled “New York PARADISE LOST Bushwick Era Disco” is a documentation of New York city from the 1970s to the early 1990s. Can you tell us what this book represents and how this project come to be this collection of images we see now?

New York City in the 1970’s was a wild place and time, the site of my own roaring twenties. Upon moving here in 1975, I fell madly in love with the city and carried my medium format camera everywhere. I met and became friendly with people of all ages, ethnicities, backgrounds, and preferences from near and far who came to be a part of this amazing city. I rented a bedroom in my cousin’s brownstone and set up a darkroom in the laundry room while taking a photography class taught by Lisette Model. Working as a freelance illustrator by day by night I was hitting the club scene and usually took my camera along to photograph while dancing the night away. I was aware that this was my version of Brassai’s 1930’s Parisian nightlife.

I was carving out a living doing freelance illustration work and moonlighting as a hostess at Go-Go bars, but I wanted/needed a steady job. In 1979 I made use of my Art Education degree and became an NYC Public School Art Teacher. Working as a full-time teacher, I had less time for going out at night photographing or spending hours in the darkroom.

When I started teaching in Bushwick in 1981, the neighborhood looked bombed out.  I began carrying a point-and-shoot camera with color film. Walking back and forth from the subway to school, Helen Levitt whispered as I photographed kids playing on the streets. Walker Evans motivated me to capture storefronts. Oddly beautiful landscapes were reminiscent of Ansel Adams. In hindsight, I was photographing people I found uplifting.

The idea to put the juxtapositions of day and nightlife together came in 2013 while visiting BIZARRE, a drag & burlesque club in Bushwick. It was pulsating, filled with people dancing to great music. There was a disco ball overhead as I did lipstick check in the bathroom, another disco ball over the dance floor. I had a revelation. Bushwick was now THE place to be. OMG – it hit me; my Bushwick and Disco photos belonged together. Bizarre became my publisher. My wife Patricia O’Brien designed both books A Tale of Two Cities Disco Era Bushwick (BIZARRE Publishing 2014) and Purgatory & Paradise SASSY ‘70s Suburbia & The City (BIZARRE Publishing 2015). But they were only the tips of the iceberg. I kept digging and finding more treasures. Jean Stéphane Sauvaire closed BIZARRE in 2019 to focus on his major film projects. Still, Jean helped me edit and sequence work for the new monograph. Patricia and I formed Parallel Pictures Press. New York PARADISE LOST Bushwick Era Disco is our first imprint. It is bolder than my first two books. This time, I delved into darker aspects of disco and the vibrant school life in IS 291-Roland Hayes, where I taught and photographed classrooms and neighboring streets.

© Meryl Meisler courtesy of ClampArt Gallery, Nose Ring, Earring, Mustache and Hickey, IS 291, Bushwick, Brooklyn NY 1991

© Meryl Meisler courtesy of ClampArt Gallery, Discussion During Gym, IS 291, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY 1982

I think one of the most interesting aspects of the work is the duality of the hardships vs. the happiness and livelihood of the city in those days. You captured some important and historical events that happened in the city, alongside the buzzing night life. I think this is just very New York City. This city is full of contradiction and polarization which is probably why so many people gravitated towards it. Can you tell us more about this notion from your point of view?

Then and now- to me, New York City, because of or perhaps despite its contradictions, is a place where anybody can “fit in.” There is no one way to be, believe, think, or act. It’s an energy center magnet that draws people from all walks of life and backgrounds.

It can be tough as nails, challenging, and uplift your spirits. It is a catalyst of creativity that warms your heart to the core. Find inspiration and a supportive community to help you realize your impossible dreams.  History is always in the making.

In the PR of the new monograph, it is mentioned how Bushwick has changed since these images were taken and it says “Flash forward four decades, and Bushwick is a hub of new music, art, fashion, literature, nightlife, and creative thinking. However, many bemoan the gentrification of neighborhoods like Bushwick. There is a nostalgia and sorrow for what is lost in the process of change.” Can you speak a little about the changed you see have happened in the city and in Bushwick in specific?

Over the past 40 years, New York City has been rapidly losing its unique one-of-a-kind businesses. Big Box Stores have destroyed “Mom and Pop” and smaller stores that carried knowledge hardware, stationery, bookstores, art supplies. The rising cost of living and the need for affordable housing makes it harder for people to establish and nurture solid and steady roots. Strong communities need diversity and a safety net to help all their constituents strive, grow and give back to others. With gentrification comes the displacement of long-term and newer arrivals who can’t afford to stay without affordable housing and long-term business leases.

There are also positives sides to change. In the 1980s, as a Lesbian who earned her living as a teacher in a neighborhood where being “out” did not feel safe or welcoming, I did not imagine that Bushwick would become the home of a large, vital, creative, LGBTQ and arts community. Abandoned buildings and many garbage-strewn lots are filled with new occupants, businesses, community centers, and schools.

I found it really fascinating that some of the images were taken while you were working as an art teacher. I Would love to hear your experience being a teacher and photographing the school and their events happening at the same time. How did the students and other teacher feel with your photographic work?

I taught art (photography, digital, and traditional media) in the NYC Public Schools for 31 years.  I photographed colleagues and students, events with parents and guardians, assemblies, work, and recreation. It was something I casually did while carrying on my duties as an educator and faculty member. I was part of the school community. The administrators knew I was taking photographs from time to time. The school used some photos for yearbooks, flyers, presentations about the students, and school activities. In all the school situations, I asked permission of the principal.

In later decades, when the Dept. of Ed required media permissions, I created a consent slip (approved by the principal) that parents or guardians signed, granting permission to take their child's photo for educational or personal artistic purposes. If a parent or guardian did give their written consent, I did not take their child's photo. I usually asked the subject's permission as well. After retirement, I was an Adjunct Instructor at New York University Art Education Department for four years, supervising and photographed the student teachers at both public and private schools. My insider's view of 35 years in the NYC schools is my largest unseen body of work.

© Meryl Meisler courtesy of ClampArt Gallery, Teacher Carrying Math Books, IS 291, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY 1984

© Meryl Meisler courtesy of ClampArt Gallery, MRS Miesler IS A BictH, IS 291, Bushwick, Brooklyn NY 1990

© Meryl Meisler courtesy of ClampArt Gallery, Tasty Pretzel Bakeries, Bushwick, Brooklyn NY 1983

Can you tell us about the process of going through your archive to find the right images to create this body of work? How did you decide on the images that got included and what was the “thread” the was leading you in the editing process?

The first book, "A Tale of Two Cities Disco Era Bushwick" was done so quickly, I left out some of the most potent Bushwick images and hadn't even looked through the photos taken inside the school. Curators interested in my nightlife photographs for The Brooklyn Museum “Studio 54 Night Magic” and The New-York Historical Society “Letting Loose and Fighting Back: LGBTQ Night Life” exhibits made me go through my disco photos again and again. I realized that there were so many more powerful images I didn't understand or was too timid to show before.

I scanned and printed out what I thought were the most vital images and made possible sets and storylines. Jean Stéphane Sauvaire and I met many times, laying out the work, picking and choosing, sequencing. Editing is so important. I learned so much from Jean's vast knowledge as a movie director. I showed the dummy to curators and gallerists who knew and supported my work for their critical feedback. Jean, Patricia, and I feel this is our best book yet.

I think it is interesting to think about the book in connection to the time we are currently living in —a pandemic and how this city was affected by it all. Just curious to hear your opinion on this and if you think anything has changed for you and the way you think of your work and images from the past?

My number one goal of the pandemic and life is to focus on health and well-being. The pandemic was the impetus for two significant projects: building a darkroom and bringing this book to fruition. I built the darkroom to make gelatin silver prints of the work from this book for my exhibit New York PARADISE LOST Bushwick Era Disco at ClampArt.

I have returned to my analog roots, using a medium format camera with 120 film, printing and editing never-seen images from my archive, and creating new work. 

Perhaps we are all a bit like Dorothy from The Wizard of OZ, waking up from a dream or nightmare, appreciating daily life and what we took for granted with appreciative fresh eyes and heart.

© Meryl Meisler courtesy of ClampArt Gallery, Two Queens at the COYOTE Hookers Masquerade Ball, Copacabana, NY, NY 1977

© Meryl Meisler courtesy of ClampArt Gallery, Patou and The Man in The Moon With a Cocaine Spoon, Studio 54, NY, NY 1978

© Meryl Meisler courtesy of ClampArt Gallery, Exit Door, COYOTE Hookers Masquerade Ball, Copacabana, NY, NY 1977

© Meryl Meisler courtesy of ClampArt Gallery, Bunnies Classroom Kiss, IS 291, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY 1984

© Meryl Meisler courtesy of ClampArt Gallery, Cafeteria Finger Gesture, IS 291, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY 1990