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Matinee: 'Natalie Keyssar, Documentary Photographer'
2 March 2024
Saturday matinees long ago let us escape from the ordinary world to the island of the Swiss Family Robinson or the mutinous decks of the Bounty. Why not, we thought, escape the usual fare here with Saturday matinees of our favorite photography films?
So we're pleased to present the 542nd in our series of Saturday matinees today: Natalie Keyssar, Documentary Photographer.
In this one-minute video by Urmi Chatterjee, Natalie Keyssar talks about her project documenting the Escaramuza charra, the only female event in the Mexican charrería equestrian sport, for National Geographic.
Keyssar is a documentary photographer based in Brooklyn, N.Y., focusing on the personal effects of political turmoil and conflict, youth culture and migration.
She says being a woman in this field is "sort of like being a member of secret society." Her dream assignment was to document the Escaramuza charra, something of a secret society themselves that, she feels, "deserves recognition."
Eight women from a team of 16 ride side-saddle in traditional Mexican dresses, sombreros and accessories in choreographed routines synchronized to music. Traditionally a male event, it now includes female teams.
"I wanted to do justice and honor this tradition that goes back centuries," she says. "It felt like a huge responsibility."
In addition to National Geographic, her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Time, Bloomberg Business Week, The New Yorker and California Sunday Magazine and been awarded by organizations including the Philip Jones Griffith Award, the Aaron Siskind Foundation, PDN 30, Magenta Flash Forward and American Photography.