Sloane #68, 2009, © Lise Sarfati / Brancolini Grimaldi Gallery

Exhibition on view:
February 3–March 17, 2012

Brancolini Grimaldi
43-44 Albemarle Street
London
W1S 4JJ
+44 (0)207 493 5721

Two pairs of American sisters are featured in the film-still like photographs of the series She by Lise Sarfati. The women photographed become interchangeable as Sarfati investigates the sense of identity that a woman attempts to possess. Instead, the uniqueness of the characters becomes beautifully ambiguous. French-born Sarfati, living part-time in the U.S., photographed the inner lives of these young women, changing their environments every so often, moving them to various cities including Oakland, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix. Sarfati prefers to shoot in small towns where life is slower and she has the chance to obtain intimate knowledge of her subjects.

Made between 2005 and 2009 the semi-choreographed photographs were influenced by film and theoretical thinkers. Sarfati’s interest in doubles and reflections adds an extra layer to the banality offered by the American backdrops; ordinary living rooms, shops and streets. Using Kodachrome slide film, synonymous with family snapshots of the 1960s and 70s, her quiet compositions bathed with rich color heighten the intensity of the women she photographs.

Sarfati talks about her subject’s environments, the perception of color in her work and her intention behind She in a recent interview with Elizabeth Avedon. A retrospective of this work and more of Sarfati’s photographs will be featured in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris in 2014.

Sarfati has appeared in Aperture issues 194, 180, 146, and 142.

New Year, 2010, © Jowhara AlSaud

Kicking off the 2012 art season, check out highlights on view throughout New York! See below for some of our favorite Aperture artists and galleries.

New Photographers at Dazinger Gallery, January 12–February 25, introducing five emerging photographers unlinked to one another through content but brought together for their first time exhibiting in New York City. Featured photographer Tereza Vlčkovà from Aperture’s groundbreaking book, reGeneration 2: tomorrow’s photographers today.

Silverstein Annual at Bruce Silverstein Gallery, January 14–February 25, offers exposure to ten up-and-coming photographers who have been chosen by ten prominent curators, including Nelli Palomaki, reGeneration 2 artist. View her limited edition prints available through Aperture.

Penetration at Foley Gallery, January 12–March 3, recreates the photographic image with five artists who interrupt the common photographic process. Portfolio Prize 2008 Runner-Up Jowhara AlSaud’s portraits of faceless figures, inspired by censorship, are personal photographs made into drawings etched on the surface of a negative, view her limited edition prints here. Pushing the capabilities of photographic paper itself, Marco Breuer scratches and scrapes the light-sensitive paper making conceptual, abstract imagery. See Breuer’s limited edition book by Aperture Early Recordings and Untitled 2007 and the highly acclaimed compilation The Edge of Vision: The Rise of Abstraction in Photography, he was also featured in Aperture magazine issue 172.

Joel Sternfeld: First Pictures at Luhring Augustine, January 6–February 4, displays a selection of Joel Sternfeld’s earliest photographs, taken between 1971 and 1980, documenting his travels across America through vibrant colors twined with wit and satire.

Visions: Tim Hetherington at Bronx Documentary Center, through January 22, is the inaugural exhibit featuring photography and multimedia work produced by photojournalist Tim Hetherington who was killed in April of 2011 as he covered Libya’s revolution.

First Look at Yossi Milo Gallery, January 26–February 18, is the inaugural exhibition at the new gallery space located at 245 Tenth Avenue. The photographers included all had their first solo New York City exhibition presented by the Yossi Milo Gallery. These artists include Robert Bergman, Mohamed Bourouissa, Pieter Hugo, Simen Johan, Sze Tsung Leong, Loretta Lux, Yuki Onodera, Muzi Quawson, Mark Ruwedel, Alessandra Sanguinetti, Lise Sarfati, Alec Soth, Kohei Yoshiyuki and Liu Zheng. A celebration will be held in honor of these photographers on February 16 from 6:00–8:00 pm.

Aperture magazine is a finalist for a National Magazine Award in General Excellence (under 100,000 circulation), the magazine industry’s highest honor.  The awards recognize print and online magazines that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative editorial techniques, journalistic enterprise, and imaginative design. Winners will be announced April 30. See the complete list of finalists here.

In addition, the latest issue of Aperture magazine is now available and features:

•    Intended Consequences: Rwandan Children Born of Rape
Photojournalist Jonathan Torgovnik provides and intimate look at the tragic legacy of Rwandan women who were sexually tortured by militiamen during and after the 1994 genocide, and their inheritors: children born of rape. An exhibition of this dramatic work is on view at Aperture Gallery through May 7th.
•    Sally Mann: Untitled
A selection from Mann’s latest family-focused project: intimate photographs of her husband Larry.
•    Jiang Jian: Memory and History by Vicky Goldberg
Photographer Jiang documents life in his native rural China.
Click here to see an expanded interview and additional images from the artist.
•    Photography and Human Rights by Anthony Downey
Downey discusses photographs that explore the stateless condition of the dispossessed and the plight of refugees.
•    Pertti Kekarainen: The Sensation of Seeing by Lyle Rexer
A look at the Finnish photographer’s abstract photography.
•    Look Close: The Scrapbooks of Dan Eldon and Candy Jernigan
Jessica Helfand explores the inventive journals of two artists who died tragically young.
•    William van der Weyde and the American Morality Plan by Michael Lesy
An introduction to the curious work of this little-known early-twentieth-century photographer.
•   Lise Sarfati: She
Sandra S. Philips presents a selection from Sarfati’s latest body of work, focused on the complex relationships of four women.