Object number2022.3.4

Marketplace. Diriamba

Portfolio/Seriesfrom the series Nicaragua

Date1978

Artist Susan Meiselas (American, born 1948)

CultureAmerican

MediumChromogenic print; printed 2015

EditionEdition 3 of 12, plus 2 artist proofs

DimensionsImage: 16 x 24 in. (40.6 x 61 cm)
Sheet: 18 1/4 x 26 1/4 in. (46.4 x 66.7 cm)

Credit LinePurchase, gift of Mrs. Frederick Ferris Thompson, by exchange

On View

Not on view

Period20th c

Classification(s)

Photograph

SignedOn verso, signed on a label fixed to the lower right corner: Susan Meiselas

InscribedOn verso, on a printed label affixed to the lower right corner: Marketplace in Diriamba, 1978 / is a chromogenic print made under my supervision / by Esteban Mauchi at Laumont, NYC, 2022 / This print is no 3/12 20 x 30" / Susan Meiselas

BibliographyMeiselas, Susan. Nicaragua, June 1978-July 1979. New York, Aperture, 2016, p. 13ProvenanceHigh Pictures Generation Gallery

Vassar Exhibitions

Women at Work: Photography and Labor

Exhibition HistoryKnown for her immersive approach to photography, Susan Meiselas made these photographs in Nicaragua at a culturally and personally defining moment for the people she met. They bear witness to the human experiences of the Sandinista uprising which, in 1979, led to the overthrow of the Somoza family dictatorship. In Marketplace, Diriamba, Meiselas conveys the vulnerability of political upheaval and violence, encapsulated in the concerned look of a child at an outdoor market. He looks at a set of toy soldiers—what should be an opportunity for imaginative play—his frown instead signaling the ominous reality of childhood in the midst of war.

Julia Pippenger ’25 and Jessica D. Brier, Curator of
Photography
DescriptionColor image of a boy holding a white sack over his shoulder as he kneels on the ground in the middle of a crowded marketplace. A merchant extends three colorful toy soldiers towards him and he examines them with a furrowed brow.

Terms

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu