Susan Ressler
A Life in Photography
Over a half century ago as a college student in the 1960s, photographer Susan Ressler began documenting and questioning the world around her with her camera. This exhibition highlights the expansive range of Ressler’s artistic vision, from ethnographic image-maker on a Canadian First Nation reserve, to LA street photographer and more –– including her iconic Executive Order 1970s images of corporate America, created for The Los Angeles Documentary Project, a National Endowment for the Arts survey grant on the occasion of the Los Angeles Bicentennial.
For most of her life, Susan has made Taos, New Mexico her home, yet most of her photographs depict Southern California. Here in the Golden State, she believes one can see the future unfold, and there is no better place to explore the social and political issues that characterize her work.
Curator Eve Schillo (LACMA) contributed an essay introducing Ressler's SoCal work in her newly released retrospective book. Schillo highlights how Ressler utilizes form and graphic elements to reinforce narrative messaging and social-cultural considerations. "It’s also there in the reality of her palate—we know how to read these color prompts; this is the language of commodification we are schooled in. It can also be read as the language of the haves and have-nots."
For the past 50 years, Susan Ressler has focused her lens on themes of social justice. Her photographs critique wealth and power –– she wields photography with humor and insight, and her work is especially relevant today.
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