Meryl Meisler

Photographer

Meryl Meisler is a photographer who documented and worked in Bushwick during the late ’70s and early ’80s, capturing moments of joy and hope in the neighborhood when it was racked by arson and economic crisis. Meryl Meisler was born 1951 in the South Bronx and raised in North Massapequa, Long Island, NY. In this interview, Meryl recounts her childhood memories of Long Island, her early beginnings in exploring photography, and her return to New York City in 1975. She was able to work as a freelance illustrator by day, and at night she shares her memories of how she frequented and photographed the infamous New York Discos. Meryl talks about how she began her teaching career and how she got her eventual placement at a Bushwick elementary school. She reflects on how as a local school teacher, she saw beyond the blight, and was able connect with the youth she taught as well as the community through her art in spite of the neighborhood’s troubles. Upon retiring from the NYC public school system in 2010, Meisler began releasing large bodies of her previously unseen work. Meryl’s first monograph A Tale of Two Cities: Disco Era Bushwick (Bizarre, 2014), received international acclaim. The book juxtaposes her zenith of disco photos with images of the burned out yet beautiful neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn in the 1980s.