Lise Sarfati

Lise graduated from the Sorbonne with an MA in Russian Studies in 1979. From 1989 to 1998, she lived in Russia, creating images which were compiled into her first major body of work, Acta Est (2000, Phaidon).

According to Lise, her ‘work exists at the edge of real­ity and fic­tion.’ Focusing on central characters – often young people – Lise avoids concretised narratives and opens space for viewer interpretation. 

In 2003, Lise pho­tographed teenagers across the U.S. The series which emerged – The New Life (2005, Twin Palms Publishers) – affirmed her interest in representing ‘young char­ac­ters and their feel­ing of being out of step with the world.’

In subsequent series, such as Austin, Texas (2008), On Hollywood (2010) and She (2012), Lise has fur­ther explored her inter­est in psy­cho­geog­ra­phy, fem­i­nine iden­tity, and the every­day.

Lise’s work has attracted inter­na­tional crit­i­cal acclaim and is held in several major pub­lic and pri­vate col­lec­tions, includ­ing the Centre Pompidou, Paris; LACMA, Los Angeles; SF MoMA, CA; Brooklyn Museum, New York; MEP, Paris (2002), Fotografins hus, Stockholm (2009), Nicolaj Center of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen (2006) and The Photographer’s Gallery, London (2005) to name a few.

She has earned several prestigious awards including the Prix Niepce (1996) and the ICP Infinity Award (1996). Lise was a member of Magnum Photos from 1996 – 2011.