Lise Sarfati Exhibition in Italy

LISE SARFATI Immaculate Mother & Daughter The New Life From 7th September to 19th October 2008 Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10.30 am – 7.30 pm Wednesday and Thursday 10.30 am – 9.00 pm Monday 3.30 pm – 7.30 pm Galleria Carla Sozzani corso Como 10 – 20154 Milano, Italia www.galleriacarlasozzani.org

For her first solo exhibition in Italy the French photographer Lise Sarfati has worked on a special selection of photographs from The New Life serie (2003) and reveals her two most recent series, never shown before: Immaculate and Mother & Daughter (2005-2007). The show is built in three parts corresponding to the three series to appreciate the full extent and significance of her work. The New Life has already been exhibited in museums and galleries all over the world (Yossi Milo Gallery in New York, Rose Gallery in Los Angeles, museum Foam in Amsterdam, Nicolaj Center of Contemporary Art in Copenhagen, Arles in France, Photographer’s gallery in London and Domus Artium Centro del Arte in Salamanca in Spain… )

The New Life (2003) - In the serie of color photographs taken through United States -from Austin to Asheville, Portland to Berkeley, Oakland, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Louisiana and small towns in Georgia- each portrait dramatizes the complexity of adolescent identity showing an intensity that adults will never be able to experience again. Lise Sarfati explores the dividing lines between good and bad, happiness and sadness, innocence and perversity, reality and fantasy. With a minimal choregraphy, she activates connections with her subjects in their everyday spaces and situations – bedrooms, backyards, kitchens, grocery stores. The title The New Life refers to Dante Aligheri and Beatrice Portinari, who were children when they met in 1274 in Firenze "She died and La Vita Nuova is a poem of love for Beatrice, with whom he was in love all his life" - A book has been published La Vie Nouvelle The New Life -Twin Palms publisher, 2005.

Immaculate (2006-2007) - The serie Immaculate took place in California, inside Catholic educational establishments for girls. The different high schools have been carefully chosen by the artist. She looked for places surrounded by the ‘Garden of Eden’ and she found it in Monterey, Sierra Madre, Alhambra and San Diego. The student girls photographed have decided of their attitude and expression. They are still in the garden of the school, just before returning home. The idea of “the fence” is central in this serie, referring to the enclosed garden of Middle Age. Lise Sarfati breaks the idyllic vision, when she captured the adolescent girls giving way to herself on the lawn of their school. Book published by Schirmer Mosel in Spring 2009, text by Thomas Weski.

Mother & Daughter (2005-2007) - In the serie Mother & Daughter, Los Angeles, Berkeley and Oakland in California are the main places chosen by the artist. The central subject is the role game that takes a real importance between parents and children, and even more between a mother and her daughter. The characters become interchangeable and their relation reinforce the mirror effect. The imaginative realm of the mother is embodied in the daughter and the girl's ideal is played out by her mother. Throughout the serie, Mother & Daughter were photographed separately, to underline the personality split. The disturbing play of competition between the two brings exhibitionism to its apotheosis. It refers to the use of masks – makeup, wigs – underscoring the loss of bearings. The outcome is a kind of tension between the mask-reflections and the exhibitionism of the two women.

Grew up in France, she lives in Paris. She obtained a master’s degree in Russian studies from the Sorbonne. She was the official photographer of the Academy des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Sarfati moved to Russia and photographed there for ten years. She received grants from both the Fiacre and Villa Medicis. She received the Prix Niepce in Paris and the Infinity award of International Center of Photography in New York for her work. For over five years now, she has been working in the United States. Lise Sarfati is represented by Yossi Milo Gallery in New York, Rose Gallery in Los Angeles and Magnum Gallery in Paris.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2008 Russian Series Yossi Milo Gallery, New York, USA . American Trilogy Galleria Carla Sozzani, Milan, Italy. The New Life, Centre National de l’Audiovisuel, Dudelange, Luxembourg The New Life, Center of Comtaporary Art « Vinzavod » for the Seventh International Month of Photography “Photobiennale’’ Moscow, Russia, 2007 The New Life, FOAM Amsterdam, The New Life, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen, Scotland, 2006 The New Life, UC Riverside California Museum of Photography, USA, La Vie Nouvelle, Rencontres Internationales d’Arles, France, The New Life, Rose Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, USA, Retrospective Nicolaj Center of Contemprary Art, Kopenhagen, Dannemark 2005 The New Life Yossi Milo Gallery, New York, USA, La Vie Nouvelle, Museo de San Telmo ,San Sebastien, Spain, American series, The Photographer’s gallery London, UK, 2004 Retrospective, Russian series, The New Life, Domus Artium Centro del Arte Salamanca, Spain 2002 Russian Series, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France, Post Factum, Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles, France 1997 Musée Nicephore Niepce, Prix Niepce, Chalon-sur-Saone, France, 1996 Prix Niepce, Centre National de la Photographie, Paris, France

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITION 2007 Easy Rider, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, USA. June Bride, Yossi Milo Gallery, New York, USA. Women of Many Faces, Isabelle Huppert. Fotomuseum Der Haag, The Netherlands. Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Turin, Italy. Euro Visions, Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Bruxelles, Belgique, 2006 Women of Many Faces, Isabelle Huppert. PS1 Contemporary Art Center, Museum of Modern Art, Long Island City, Gallery C/O Berlin, Germany. Botanic Garden, Madrid, Spain. Metropolitan Museum of Photography,Tokyo, Japan. Couvent des Cordeliers, Paris, France. Euro Visions, Milan, Italie, Ludwig Museum, Budapest, Hunagry, Zamec, Warsaw, Poland. 2005 Euro Visions, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France.

COLLECTIONS SFMOMA San Francisco of Modern Art, CA, USA Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, France LACMA Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA, USA Collection Michael Wilson, London, UK Brooklyn Museum, NY, USA Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France Bouwfonds Kunststichting, Netherlands Fond National d’Art Contemporain, Paris, France Domus Artium, Salamanca, Spain Fondation ABN AMRO pour la Photographie, Paris, France Musée Nicephore Niepce, Chalon-sur-Saone, France Fondation Enrique ORDÓÑEZ, Spain Lhoist, Belgium

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 2008 Monography with Schirmer Mosel 2005 The New Life La Vie Nouvelle, Lise Sarfati Twin Palms Publisher 2004 Lise Sarfati, Fundacion Salamanca Cuidad de Cultura 2000 Acta Est, Lise Sarfati Phaidon