Retransformations of Gretta Sarfaty

“Retransformations of Gretta Sarfaty” is the solo exhibition of the Greek-Brazilian artist Gretta Sarfaty at auroras, presenting a collection of her works created in the late 1970s. A large set of photoliths and paintings were selected to demonstrate how Gretta Sarfaty began her artistic career, simultaneously involved with a world of pop and neo-expressionist references, experimentation with new media of image reproduction – such as video – and addressing questions about the condition of women in contemporary society. All these layers are re-articulated in an obsessive creative process around the image of her face and body, both are provoked to transform themselves continuously. Whether to explode with the stereotypes projected on women, or for the search for something that the artist defines as “feminine identity”. Gretta developed a body of works that appropriates repetition with subtle modifications to overflow the plasticity of images and categories of femininity, the limits of exteriority and intimacy. Visual records of an internal elaboration to understand her place in the world, which is never stable, but also threatens imprisonment. This is an exposition in positive and negative by Gretta Sarfaty. After the re-edition of her book “Auto-Photos” (2021, originally published in 1978) with photographs from the series “Auto-Photos (1975), “Transformations” (1976-77) and “Diary of a Woman” (1977), the exhibition presents the original photoliths that were reproduced in the book and from which Gretta formulated her retransformations through drawing and painting. The exhibition will also feature historical material available in the library, with some publications and photographs from the period in which the artist's works were first received, referring to their circulation in Italy, France and Brazil. “Retransformations of Gretta Sarfaty” is organized in partnership with Central Galeria and curated by Tálisson Melo.