The Jewish Museum of São Paulo will present a major retrospective of Gretta Sarfaty, bringing together 60 works made over the past five decades. The exhibition includes photographs, performance documentation, videos and paintings by the Athens-born artist, who is based in São Paulo after periods living in Paris, Milan, New York and London.
Curated by Patricia Wagner, the selection highlights transparency as a recurring concern in Sarfaty’s work. Veils, lace and mirrors appear in pieces that bring the female body—often the artist’s own—close to the limits of visibility. The works explore its transformation from an idealised figure to a grotesque presence.
Sarfaty’s practice became associated with body art and the international performance scene of the 1970s, alongside artists including Ana Mendieta, Carolee Schneemann, Gina Pane, Marina Abramović and Valie Export. Her self-portraits, made through performances in front of a mirror and camera, track shifts between beauty and distortion.
The retrospective focuses on Sarfaty’s work across photography and painting, as well as her use of performance and video to examine the body and its changing image.
Sources: Folha Ilustrada.