On May 29, 2025, MoCP presented a series of conversations exploring authorship, representation, and the dissemination of information as they relate to the past, present, and future of photography. This special edition of Focal Point Extras captures a discussion between photographer Susan Meiselas and writer, critic, and photographer Teju Cole on the topic “What Does It Mean to Look at These Photographs?” The two consider three bodies of work by Meiselas spanning several decades to examine the politics of looking at photographs—especially when those images depict stories of human struggle, suffering, and conflict.
All content for Focal Point is the property of Museum of Contemporary Photography and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
On May 29, 2025, MoCP presented a series of conversations exploring authorship, representation, and the dissemination of information as they relate to the past, present, and future of photography. This special edition of Focal Point Extras captures a discussion between photographer Susan Meiselas and writer, critic, and photographer Teju Cole on the topic “What Does It Mean to Look at These Photographs?” The two consider three bodies of work by Meiselas spanning several decades to examine the politics of looking at photographs—especially when those images depict stories of human struggle, suffering, and conflict.
On May 29, 2025, MoCP presented a series of conversations that explored topics of authorship, representation, and the dissemination of information as they relate to the past, present, and future of photography.
This special edition of Focal Point Extras captures the conversation between artist Dawoud Bey and scholar Leigh Raiford on the topic of “The Photographed Person was Always There.” The two explored the critical role of the photographed person in portraiture, and how they shape images and their meaning.
This symposium was in conjunction with the exhibition, Collaboration: A Potential History of Photography in Dialogue with the MoCP Collection curated by Wendy Ewald, Susan Meiselas, Laura wexler, and MoCP Curator of Academic Programs and Collections, Kristin Taylor.
Images discussed in this conversation include:
Dawoud Bey, A Man in a Bowler Hat, from the Harlem, USA portfolio, 1976
Dawoud Bey, A Woman Waiting In The Doorway, from the Harlem, USA portfolio, 1976
Dawoud Bey, Untitled #7 (Branches and Woods), from Night Coming Tenderly, Black, 2017
For more information on Dawoud Bey’s work in the MoCP collection, please visit this link.
Focal Point
On May 29, 2025, MoCP presented a series of conversations exploring authorship, representation, and the dissemination of information as they relate to the past, present, and future of photography. This special edition of Focal Point Extras captures a discussion between photographer Susan Meiselas and writer, critic, and photographer Teju Cole on the topic “What Does It Mean to Look at These Photographs?” The two consider three bodies of work by Meiselas spanning several decades to examine the politics of looking at photographs—especially when those images depict stories of human struggle, suffering, and conflict.
