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Despite being assigned the novel multiple times as a young teenager, Meryl Meisler never fully finished “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens. She hadn’t even read it all the way through until she named her first book after it.

“A Tale of Two Cities: Disco Era Bushwick,” published in 2014, showcases Meisler’s collection of street photography from her time as a public school teacher in Brooklyn and the wild nightlife images of New York City in the 1970s. An exhibition of archives from Meisler’s first book, titled “Meryl Meisler: Best of Times, Worst of Times,” went on display at Light Work on March 22 and will run until late July.

After graduating from SUNY Buffalo State College, Meisler received her master’s degree in art education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she took full advantage of the university’s photography program and darkroom. She later moved to Manhattan, where she found herself immersed in vibrant nightlife and captured moments wherever she went.

“When I was going out, I was carrying a medium format with a flash, developing the film and printing it in a makeshift darkroom in an apartment I had,” she said. “I don’t go to photograph, I photograph where I’m going.”

Not long after she arrived, the New York City blackout of 1977 hit and greatly impacted Bushwick, a neighborhood in Brooklyn. Meisler was young and, at the time, had never heard of Bushwick. But a few years later, she became an art teacher in Bushwick for New York City public schools.

With less time on her hands, Meisler began carrying around a simple point-and-shoot camera to capture street images of Bushwick. Meisler captured about 98% of her Bushwick material on her point and shoot.

Thirty years later, Meisler got an unexpected email. A fellow Bushwick teacher, Adam Schwartz, heard about an opportunity for community members to showcase their artwork at the Brooklyn Historical Society. Schwartz wanted to commemorate the history of Bushwick since the blackout but could only find photos from newspapers and the police department.

After hearing from a mutual friend that Meisler had photos of Bushwick, Schwartz proposed that they present the idea to the Brooklyn Historical Society. Meisler agreed, and they put together a show using photos taken on her plastic point-and-shoot camera.

“When the show was over, I just knew there was so much more. I saw the beauty in them. I was hooked, I was intrigued,” she said. “I realized they were very beautiful photographs. There was something special about them.”

After her 2007 show, Meisler dove into her archives and continued to showcase her work at different galleries throughout Bushwick. French filmmaker Jean-Stéphane Sauviare approached Meisler at one of her first shows and expressed his love for her art. Just a year later, she found herself at his newly opened night club in Bushwick, and he asked Meisler if she would showcase some of her artwork there.

Two months later, in the ladies restroom of Sauviare’s club, with a disco ball over her head and graffiti on the walls, Meisler had an epiphany and realized that her two separate worlds — New York City nightlife and Bushwick — had unexpectedly come together.

“Thirty-six years later, the nightclub scene, drag scene, LGBT scene, everything was all in Bushwick. Time travel happened, and it hit me that this would be the perfect place to show this work. I didn’t tell him, I just had this idea,” she said.

After agreeing to showcase her work at his club, Sauvaire approached Meisler in January 2014 with the idea of a book. Meisler thought he was crazy, but she agreed. They worked quickly and put out “A Tale of Two Cities: Disco Era Bushwick” six months later.

It was always one of Meisler’s goals to apply to a residency program once she retired from teaching, and after hearing about Light Work from a friend, Meisler found herself in the darkroom there.

One of Meisler’s goals after retiring from teaching included applying to a residency program. Wendy Wang | Staff Photographer

After her time at Light Work, she left both of her books as a parting gift. During the beginning of the pandemic, Shane Lavalette, Light Work’s former director, contacted Meisler and said they wanted to do an exhibition of her work based on “A Tale of Two Cities: Disco Era Bushwick.”

Light Work’s goal is to support underrecognized and diverse photographers, and associate director Mary-Lee Hodgens felt that Meisler fit perfectly.

“She’s a fun person. And I think that’s why her photographs are so refreshing right now,” Hodgens said. “All kinds of humanity and all kinds of people. She looks at all of them the same way, just with a smile.”

Ryan Krueger, Light Work’s digital services coordinator, made all of the prints for Meisler’s show. After a month of reviewing scanned images and proofing the photographs, the exhibit was ready.

Krueger said Meisler always knew what she wanted in her photos and how the team could get there. While most exhibits showcase large photographic prints, Meisler’s prints never exceed 12 inches. This made working with the images more intimate for Krueger, as the prints represented such powerful images on an unusually small scale.

“What’s important about it is it provides a sense of visibility,” Krueger said. “Even if they’re not present-day images, they provide a sense of visibility for marginalized people and for communities that might have been misplaced or shifted over the years since those photographs were made.”

Published on April 6, 2021 at 11:48 pm

Contact Iseabail: iakelley@syr.edu