Today, Susan Meiselas, President of the Magnum Foundation, was recognized with the Outstanding Contribution to Photography 2025 award.
The World Photography Organisation, a division of Creo that organizes the Sony World Photography Awards, Sony Future Filmmaker Awards, and photography events in Shanghai and London, celebrated her for her remarkable influence on the photography industry.
They said that ‘Meiselas has created a powerful corpus of work, expanding perceptions of documentary photography through her insightful portrayals of people in their communities,’
They continued by saying ‘Meiselas is well known,’ and ‘for depicting the stories of women: from girls growing up in Little Italy, New York; to strippers performing in state fairs; to women escaping domestic violence in the U.K., and for her work documenting human rights issues in Latin America, as well as compiling a photographic history of Kurdistan.’
Susan Meiselas, born in Baltimore in 1948, pursued an MA in visual education at Harvard University before beginning her career as a teacher. From 1972 to 1975, during her summer vacations, she worked on her first photographic series, ‘Carnival Strippers’, which portrayed women performing striptease at small-town carnivals across New England.
In 1976, Meiselas became a member of the photography cooperative Magnum Photos. Since its establishment in 2007, she has served as President of the nonprofit Magnum Foundation.
Meiselas said, ‘Over the past 50 years, I have had the privilege of witnessing history being made, sharing the often unseen lives of those engaged in its making. The work on display invites reflection not only on the photographs themselves but also on the relationships that shaped and inspired them.’ while she is receiving the award
From April 17 to May 5, 2025, excerpts from five of Meiselas’ projects—‘44 Irving Street’, ‘Prince Street Girls’, ‘Carnival Strippers’, ‘Pandora’s Box’, and ‘A Room of Their Own’—will be exhibited at Somerset House in London.
