Background
Born in Oran, French Algeria, Sarfati grew up in Nice, France, graduating in Russian from the Sorbonne in 1979 with a thesis on Russian photography.
Born in Oran, French Algeria, Sarfati grew up in Nice, France, graduating in Russian from the Sorbonne in 1979 with a thesis on Russian photography.
Her images of cities in Russia and young people in the United States paint a sometimes despondent picture inspired by her own imagination. In 1986, she became the official photographer for the Académie des Beaux Arts. From 1989 to 1998, she lived in Russia, photographing decaying industrial sites and abandoned young people in Moscow, Norilsk and Vorkuta.
In 2003, she photographed solitary young adults in the United States as she travelled through Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Louisiana, Oregon, and California.
They all appear to lack enthusiasm for action. The works were first presented as The New Life at New York"s Yossi Milo Gallery in 2005 and were published as The New Life/Louisiana Vie Nouvelle.
Other American projects have included Austin, Texas (2008) and On Hollywood (2010), the latter made with her last rolls of Kodachrome 64 and presented at Yossi Milo in 2012. Miranda Siegel of New York magazine described Sarfati"s depictions in this exhibition: "Never demeaning or pathetic, these portraits show resilience and a willingness to give up everything to chase a dream." She (2012) presented two middle-aged women, the photos exhibited at Brancolini Grimaldi in London the same year.
Writing in The Observer, Sean O"Hagan states that "Sarfati"s photographs, though deceptively simple on first viewing, have a mysterious quality that is to do, in part, with her deft merging of portraiture, snapshot and arranged tableau." FOAM Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam.
Centre National de la Photographie, Paris. Maison européenne de la photographie, Paris. Rencontres d"Arles festival.
Louisiana Maison Rouge, Paris.
Domus Artium, Salamanca. The Nicolaj Center of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen.