Sylvia Safdie
Sylvia Safdie (1942) is a Canadian artist who gathers and utilizes found natural materials such as stones, wood, and raw soil in a variety of mediums such as painting, sculpture, drawing, installation, and video. Her poetic methodology explores themes of time and space, stillness and movement, silence and sound, and nature. Her artistic themes call upon early childhood memories, her Jewish heritage, and her experience of moving from Israel to Canada. Safdie’s work is in permanent collections in the Musée des Beaux-arts in Montreal, Canada, along with galleries in the United States, Brazil, Switzerland, and Denmark . Safdie currently works and lives in Montreal, Québec. Early Life and Education. Sylvia Safdie was born in Aley, Lebanon on August 17, 1942, to her parents Leon and Rachel Safdie. She was born into a Jewish family, the youngest of three siblings. Her eldest brother, Moshe Safdie (1938-) is an architect, and her other brother, Gabriel Safdie (1940-) is a poet and literature teacher. She spent her early childhood years in Mount Carmel, Israel, but at age eleven, her family moved from Haifa, Israel to Montréal, Québec in 1953. Safdie obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree at Concordia University , in Montreal, Québec, in 1975 and has earned national and international status as an accredited fine artist. Safdie currently resides and actively works in her sixteen-thousand-square-foot home in Montreal, Québec, which was shared with John Heward, who was an active artist and her life partner up until his death in 2018. Artist Career. Safdie’s early childhood memories, her Middle Eastern Jewish heritage, and experiences in Israel, followed by moving to a new country, are main sources of inspiration and inform her five-decade-long artistic career. As a child, she would build sandcastles on the beaches  near Haifa, where she became aware of their vulnerability amongst the waves with time, and further increased her fascination with transiency. At this time, she began to collect rocks and natural ephemera, which she then classified by size, shape, colour, material, and origin. These childhood practices and impulses were carried into her career as a professional artist and helped navigate her feelings of displacement after leaving Israel. After completing her degree, Safdie has travelled broadly to places rich in her Israeli roots, such as Haifa, Jaffa, and Jerusalem, and to areas such as Morocco, Mexico, and India. During her travels , she physically collects or video documents specific natural objects, materials, or scenes, and ultimately capture the subtle archeological traces of place through time. Over the course of her explorations, Safdie collected over 500 earth samples, which she uses in her paintings and drawings. Her travels are viewed as an ongoing exploration of spirituality and her Jewish history, combined with her passion for nature, as a form of grounding herself with the land and past. Chronologically, Safdie created with found natural objects in her sculpture installations at the beginning of her career in the 1970s, and then, in the early 1980s , she began painting with oil and earth materials. Scratching away and layering are among many physical techniques that characterize her process of painting. Later in her career, she was drawn to photography to capture inherent truths revolving around her themes. In 2001, Safdie began experimenting with video works that included or excluded sound, which demonstrated her ideas in a fluid, non-static way. Themes, Style, and Techniques. Sylvia Safdie’s visual language speaks about the intersection of time, place, and memory, with deeper themes of transformation and temporality. Her representation of the connection between the human figure, especially the female  form, and the natural world is borderline abstract, yet consists of figurative representation. Safdie utilizes sand, earth, stone, wood, and other natural materials, either untouched or used as a medium. Her process demonstrates her subject in a state of transformation that is emerging, disappearing, or “presently absent”. Her depiction of lost or displaced humans puts emphasis not on emptiness, but on how their presence lives on through traces in the natural world. Safdie’s sculptures are developed in multiple series and often titled simple Hebrew words such as "Zakhor" (memory), "Keren" (light ray), and "Lahav" (eternal flame). Many of her  pieces take several years to culminate into a final work, collection, or series. Select Works/Series. • "As I Walk", (2021). A meticulously curated installation of found earth materials gathered by the artist over an extensive time period. Some objects vaguely suggest human extremities such as feet and faces, all of which have traces and scars of movement and time. • "Earth Marks" Series (1997-). This ongoing paint and drawing series of natural earth pigments mixed with oil on mylar. The abstracted subject resembles a human form that is reappearing or disappearing with a transient aura. • "Keren No.4" (1999). A copper barrel  sculpture containing an open book with blank pages. As the viewer circles the barrel, an illusion of the pages in the book begin to turn, inflamed by light. • "Gulls" (2002). An early video work depicting a gull hovering in flight played continuously on loop, which skew and pause the viewer's perception. The video is unaccompanied by sound and the video speed is slowed. • "Gladys: A Life" (2005). A slowed-down video work documenting Gladys Barnes, a 95-year-old native of Trout River Newfoundland, in a state of sleep/awakening. It depicts Glady’s slowed facial movements such as  an evolving smile or closing of eyes. • "The Absent Present" (2010). The work features three related video works: "Pond/Auschwitz" (2011), "Reflection/Auschwitz" (2011) and "Web/Auschwitz" (2011), and "Lehav" (1993), which is a sculpture. The video works were Safdie’s documentation of Auschwitz, during her travels. It depicts rain falling on flooded areas of the camp, utilizing the water as a metaphor for personal reflection. Exhibitions. Solo Exhibitions: 2015 Body/Transforming/Gesture, Galerie Joyce Yahouda, Montréal. 2014 The Absent Present, Prefix, Toronto 2013 Amzrou/Morocco, Galerie J. Yahouda, Montréal. 2011 Time, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan Improvisations, les flâneries  musicales de Reims, Reims, France. 2010 Movement, Galerie de la Porte d’Italie Toulon, Tourlon, France. Capsule 3, Galerie d’art Leonard & Bina Ellen, Montréal. 2008 Act/Shadow, LENTOS (Museum of contemporary art), Linz, Austria. 2007 Shaping, Paul Kuhn Gallery, Calgary. 2006 Sylvia Safdie/Recent Works, Peak Gallery, Toronto. 2005 Heads, Gallery McClure, Montréal. 2004 Sylvia Safdie/Works, Peak Gallery, Toronto. Testimony of Trees, Firehouse Gallery, Burlington, Vermont. 2003 New Works 2002 – 2003, Paul Kuhn Gallery, Calgary. The Inventories of Invention, Galerie d’art Leonard & Bina Ellen, Montréal. 2002 Extensions, Tom Thomson Memorial Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario. Extensions, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga , Ontario. 200l Reflections, Peak Gallery, Toronto. Freites-Revilla Gallery, Miami, Florida. 2000 Threshold, Paul Petro, Toronto. Earth Bound, Tracey Lawrence Gallery, Vancouver. Autres territoires, Centre culturel canadien, Paris. 1999 La Galerie Séquence, Chicoutimi, Québec. 1998 Earth Marks, Paul Petro, Toronto. 1997 Spruce Street Forum Gallery, San Diego, California. 1996 Wan Fung Art Gallery, Beijing, China. Recent Drawings and Sculpture, Diane Farris, Vancouver. Recent Drawings and Sculpture, Paul Petro, Toronto. 1995 Memory and Making, Gallery 312, Chicago. 1994 Sculptures et dessins récents, Galerie J. Yahouda, Montréal. Recent Drawings and Sculpture, The Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, Hart House, University of Toronto, Toronto . Recent Drawings and Sculpture, Paul Kuhn Fine Art Gallery, Calgary. Sculptures, Andata Ritorno, Genève, Suisse Dessins, Galerie Kara, Genève, Suisse. 1992 Zakhor, Expression, Centre d'exposition de Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec. Recent Works, Evelyn Aimis Gallery, Boca Raton, Florida. 1991 J. Yahouda Gallery, Montreal at 262 Brompton Rd., London, England. Tzel (II), Nathalie Karg, Ltd., New York. 1990 Tzel, Extension Gallery, Toronto. Glimot, Gallery 101, Ottawa. 1990/88/86/84 Evelyn Aimis Fine Art, Toronto. 1989 Paul Kuhn Fine Art, Calgary. 1988 Oeuvres choisies 1982-1988, Galerie Montcalm, Hull, Québec. 1987 Série Goreme, Ouzia, Eidola, Galerie du Centre des arts Saidye Bronfman, Montréal. Série Goreme , Ouzia, Eidola Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton. Masks 1985, Galerie J. Yahouda Meir, Montréal. 1983/81/82 Galerie Don Stewart, Montréal, Toronto. 1980 Série Source, 1979, Véhicule, Montréal. Group Exhibitions: 2018 These Waters Have Stories To Tell, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, Wales. 2017 Terre des femmes, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec. 2015 Photo Gaspésie, Gaspésie, Quebec. 2009 Sur papier ou presque, Orangerie du Domaine de Madamae Èlizabeth (Versaille Fr.) 2009 2nd Guanlan International Print Biennial 2009, Guanlan Museum, Shenzhen, China. 2006 Dessins de la Collection, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal. Capital & Pedstal, Akau Inc., Toronto. Du Quêteux au Migrant , Centre d’exposition de l’Université de Montréal, Montréal. 2005 International Biennale of Contemporary Art, National gallery in Prague. 2004 Du nouveau du coté de la collection d’oeuvres d’art, Centre d’exposition de l’Université de Montréal, Montréal. Branching Out, Sylvia Safdie and Andrew Wright, Peak Gallery and Roam Contemporary, New York. 2003 L’école des femmes, Musée d’art de Joliette, Jolliette, Québec. 2002 Cluster II, Peak Gallery, Toronto. 2001 25 Artists, 25 years: Celebrating the Faculty of Fine Arts, Galerie d'art Leonard & Bina Ellen, Université Concordia, Montréal. 2000 Afterimage, Jewish Community Campus, Montréal. Passart: Passage 1990-2000, Centre d’exposition de Rouyn-Noranda, Québec. 1999  New Acquisitions: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Galerie d'art Leonard & Bina Ellen, Université Concordia, Montréal. 1998 Between Body and Soul, Galerie d'art Leonard & Bina Ellen, Université Concordia, Galérie du Centre des arts Saidye Bronfman, Montréal. 1997 Collectart, Musée de la Ville de Lachine, Québec. Oeuvres vives, Galerie l’UQAM, Montréal New Works, Art Gallery of North York, Toronto. 1996 L'Oeil du collectionneur, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal. Still Life, Paul Kuhn Fine Arts, Calgary. Sculptures, Diane Farris Gallery, Vancouver. From Memory to Transformation, Toronto. 1995 Écrits pour voir, Centre d’exposition CIRCA, Montréal. 1994 Hidden Values, McMicheal Canadian Art Collection, Kleensburg, Ontario . Le Partage d’une vision, La Collection Lavalin du Musée d’art de Montréal. De Causis et Fractatibus, Axe Néo-7, Hull, Québec. Le Nu Contemporain, Galerie Lacerte Palardy, Montréal. 1993 Flash art, Die Frie, Copenhagen, Denmark. Visual Language, SAW Gallery, Ottawa. Absolute Realities, art initiatives, New York. 1992 Québécois Contemporain, Galerie L'UQÀM, Montréal. Reflections on Environments, The Helen Day Art Center, Stowe, Vermont. Dialogue, Centre international d'arts contemporain, Montréal. Themes of Immenence, Burlington Cultural Center, Burlington, Ontario. 1991 Hors Murs, Gallery J. Yahouda, Montréal at 167 Spring Street, New York. 1989 Montréal sur papier, Galerie du Centre des arts Saidye Bronfman, Montréal , Identité, Galerie J. Yahouda Meir, Montréal. 1988 Les temps chauds, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, (exposition itinérante: Toulouse, Liège, etc.) 1988 Figurative Force, Stratford Art Gallery, Stratford, Ontario. 1985 Works by Selected Graduates: 10th Anniversary Celebration, Concordia University, Montréal. Canada Council Art Bank, Galerie Montcalm, Hull, Québec. Focus On Faculty, Dawson College, Montréal. 1984 Québec Artists, Moosart Gallery, Miami, Florida. Tout l’art du monde, Gare maritime, Montréal. Canada Council Art Bank, Emily Carr College of Art, Vancouver. La collection de prêt d’œuvres d’art du Musée de Québec, Musée d’art contemporain, Montréal. 1984 Face à face, Powerhouse Gallery, Montréal. 1983 Exposition  9” x 9”, Galerie J. Yahouda Meir, Montréal. 1979 Arts Femmes, Musée d’art contemporain, Montréal. 1978 Dessins d’une vingtaine d’artistes de Montréal, Galerie du Centre des arts Saidye Bronfman, Montréal. First Canadian Biennale of Prints and Drawings, Alberta College Art Gallery, Calgary. First Biennale for Québec Artists, Galerie du Centre des arts Saidye Bronfman, Montréal. Collections. • Agnes Etherington Art Center, Kingston • Air Canada, Montréal • Art Gallery of Hamilton • Art Gallery of North York • Art Gallery of Nova Scotia • Banco Cidade, Sao Paulo, Brazil • Banque de commerce, Montréal • Banque Julious Bar, Genève, Suisse • Cadillac Fairview, Toronto • Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa  • Claridge, Montréal • Conseil des arts, Communauté urbaine de Montréal • Esso Ltd., Toronto • Galerie Leonard & Bina Ellen, Montréal • Guanlan Museum, Shenzhen, China • Lavalin, Montréal • La Ville de Copenhagen, Denmark • Loto Québec • MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina • McDonald's, Canada • McGill University, Montréal • Ministère des communautés culturelles et immigration, Montréal • Montréal Expos Musée d’art contemporain, Montréal • Musée d'art de Joliette, Québec • Musée des beaux-arts, Montréal • Musée de Québec, collection de prêt d’œuvres d’art Nickle Arts Museum, Calgary • Petro-Canada, Calgary • Pratt and Whitney, Montréal • La Ville de Genève, Suisse • Royal Bank of Montréal • La Ville de Copenhagen, Denmark • Sun Life of Canada  • Severt Collection, Montréal • Teleglobe, Canada • Thomas More Institute, Montréal • Université de Montréal • University of Lethbridge, Alberta • Westbourne, Montreal Awards/Prizes. • 1993 Canada Council, "B" Grant • 1991/93 Gouvernement du Québec, Ministère des affaires culturelles, bourse “A” Thomas More Institute, Montréal - first prize • 1987/80 Canada Council, Project Grant Gouvernement du Québec, Ministère des affaires culturelles, aide “Accessibilité” • 1977 First Biennale for Québec Artists, Galerie du Centre des arts Saidye Bronfman, Montréal