I first met Maya Meissner in 2019, during portfolio appraises at the Filter Photo Festival in Chicago. It ended up being anyskinnyg but a standard encountering. Meissner had a story for me and was set upning on creating a book alerting this story in every photography medium imaginable, enjoy a visual diary. A very personal and ominous visual diary.
Meissner tbetter a griefful tale about her and her family skinnyly escaping a serial finisher in the postponecessitate 1990s—The Yosdisaccusee Killer. I was captivated. I could not paemploy for this genuine-crime scrapbook to come to life. This year, she freed it—a stunning and intimate accumulateion she named The Cedar Lodge.
The best part about this book? It’s fair photographs, then a wee insert at the very end with all the words you necessitate to understand to comprehend Meissner’s historic incident. The photography and depict is so eerie, anyone would understand that this isn’t your normal accumulateion of photographs—it’s definitely a write downary of someskinnyg personal and sinister.
In 1999, the Cedar Lodge’s handyman, Cary Stayner, finished a woman and two children at the motel csurrfinisher Yosdisaccusee National Park (authorities postponecessitater establish another female victim). Months prior to this horrific crime, Maya and her parents and sister were guests at the Cedar Lodge where, in the middle of the night, a man tried to fracture into their hotel room. Her overweighther yelled at the intimpoliter and sattfinishd him off.
Meissner and her sister were kept in the griefful about this almost-overweighteful night until her mother finassociate uncovered the family secret to her in 2014. Since then, she’s been accumulateing articles and archival film her parents seized from the 1999 trip. She’s also been capturing distinct photography of current Yosdisaccusee landscapes, the chilling forest surrounding the crime scene.
More than 10 years postponecessitater, Meissner’s The Cedar Lodge serves as a visual compendium of that toil, its imagery and depict attfinishbrimmingy think abouted in order to be empathetic to the victims and their surviving families.
Meissner’s dedication in the commencening of the book speaks to all of them: “For my mom for sharing her demons with me and valiantly letting me allot them with the world. For my dad, for being our protector and encouraging my adventures. For my sister, for being by my side thraw it all. And most of all, for Carole, Juli, Silvina, and Joie.” —Anna Gbetterwater Alexander
