Lise Sarfati


Lise Sarfati is a French photographer and artist. She is noted for her photographs of elusive characters, often young, who resist any attempt to being pinned down. Her work particularly explores the instability of feminine identity. Most recently, Sarfati’s photographs have focused on the relationship between individuals and the urban landscape. She has extensively worked in Russia and the United States.

Life and work

Born in Oran, Algeria, Sarfati graduated with an MA. in Russian Studies from the Sorbonne in 1979. In 1986, she became the official photographer for the Académie des Beaux Arts. From 1989 to 1998, she lived in Russia, capturing the atmosphere of a country in transition. Her images of urban ruins and young people in their interior spaces resulted in her first major body of work, Acta Est published by Phaidon. The series’ poetic approach set itself apart from the categories of travelogue and photo-journalistic essay, conjuring a richly layered world at the edge of reality and fiction
In 2003, she travelled across the United States photographing adolescents in cities such as Austin Asheville, Portland, New Orleans, Berkeley, Oakland and Los Angeles. The title of this series La Vie Nouvelle is inspired by La vita nova of Dante Alighieri. The book is published by Twin Palms Publishers. Her subsequent American projects Austin, Texas, On Hollywood and She further explore her interests on psychogeography, feminine identity, and the everyday.
With Oh Man, a series of richly detailed tableaux depicting lonesome men walking in downtown Los Angeles, Sarfati departed from her accustomed 35mm format, opting for a 4x5 view camera. This slower image-making process enabled her to enlarge the space for contemplation and invite the viewer to explore what is hidden in these deceptively simple images. One of her photographs from this series was selected as the official visual of Paris Photo 2017.
Critic Sean O'Hagan, writing in The Guardian, said, “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”.
Sarfati has been awarded the Prix Niepce and ICP Infinity Award. Between 1996 and 2011, Sarfati was a member of Magnum Photos.
Sarfati is currently represented by in Los Angeles.

Influence

Cinematographer Sam Levy has cited Sarfati’s work as inspiration for the look of Greta Gerwig’s Oscar-nominated film Lady Bird

Exhibitions