This book is dedicated to a pioneering name in contemporary Brazilian art: Gretta Sarfaty. From the 1970s onwards, her work has challenged the status quo by questioning the supposedly natural character of women's subordination through a less obvious discussion surrounding the individual and the female collective body.
Despite having dedicated herself to multiple other publications throughout her extensive career, this is her first monographic book, comprising five decades of her production. Over this time, Sarfaty experimented with different techniques—such as painting, photography and performance,—thus constructing a multifaceted oeuvre in constant movement and transformation.
In order to outline this extensive biographical panorama, this bilingual publication features an opening essay by Mirtes Marins de Oliveira, historian, researcher and curator of this book. Amid a section of works which illustrates the artist's multimedia production, curators Patricia Wagner, Isobel Whitelegg, and María Iñigo Clavo dive into three works, all of them representative of key moments in Sarfaty's trajectory: Enlace [Entangle] (1978), Through a Glass Darkly (2010) and Goya Time (1985). In addition to this narrative path, the book features a foreword written by the artist herself.
It is important to highlight the notable female leadership behind the team responsible for the book, whose design project is signed by Camila Regueira, drawing inspiration from symbols associated with Jewish culture such as the Kabbalah and the Talmud, both deeply associated to the artist's ancestry. In addition to tradition, another major element in Sarfaty's work, the body, is represented through the book's chosen chromatic composition. Veils and laces, other crucial parts in the game of hiding and revealing performed in some of her works, are also present in the woven texture on the cover.
In this path where life and work intertwine, we invite you to unravel (or, better yet, unveil) Gretta Sarfaty's constantly reinvented world.