Sara Facio
Birth date18 April 1932
Birth placeSan Isidro, Argentina
Death date18 June 2024 (aged 92)
Death placeBuenos Aires, Argentina
OccupationPhotojournalist, publisher
Years active1957–2024
PartnerMaría Elena Walsh
(1978–2011; her death)
AwardsKonex Award (1992)

Sara Facio (18 April 1932 – 18 June 2024) was an Argentine photojournalist and publisher.[1] She was best known for having photographed, along with Alicia D'Amico, various cultural personalities, including Argentine writers Julio Cortázar, María Elena Walsh and Alejandra Pizarnik.[2] She co-founded the publishing house "La Azotea" alongside María Cristina Orive in 1973.[3][4][5]

Facio was instrumental in establishing a publishing house for photographic work in Latin America and for the creation of a prominent photographic exhibition space in Argentina.[6][7]

Career

Facio began working as an assistant to Annemarie Heinrich and started taking her own photographs in 1957.[8]

In 1960, Facio and Alicia D'Amico opened a photography studio together.[9] Facio co-founded La Azotea with María Cristina Orive in 1973.[3][5] La Azotea was the first publishing house printing photo books in Latin America.[3]

Following the 1978 "Latin American Colloquiums of Photography"[10] held in Mexico City, Facio worked with fellow artists to co-found the Argentine Photography Council (Spanish: Consejo Argentino de Fotografía).[11][12]

In 1985, Facio established the Fotogalería of the Teatro Municipal General San Martín, which has become one of the most prominent photographic exhibition spaces in Argentina.[13][14] Facio served as the director of the gallery until 1998.[14]

"What I do in photography is to ensure that the day I die they do not say that a cow died but that a person who saw that died. And what I saw is in my photos. As if to say, 'This is my city, my people, the one I admire, the one I like.' That is my canon."

— Sara Facio, in response to the question by Maria Moreno for Página 12 in 2000[15]

One of her most notable works of photojournalism was her coverage of Peronism in Argentina during the 1970s.[7] She was noted for photographing marchers and protesters at Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, which was different as most photojournalists focused their works through aerial views of Casa Rosada.[7] During her career, she was also known for photographing Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, Astor Piazzolla, Pablo Neruda, Gabriel García Márquez and Mario Vargas Llosa.[6]

In 1996, Facio illustrated Manuelita, a book of poetry by María Elena Walsh.[16] A large exhibition of her work, taken between 1972 and 1974 and focusing on the effect that Juan Domingo Perón had on the country, was shown at the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, MALBA, in 2018.[17] She was granted the Platinum Konex Award from Argentina in 1992.[18]

Her work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA.[19]

Facio donated 25% of the photographs that make up the photographic heritage of the National Museum of Fine Arts from her personal archive.[20]

Aside from photography, Facio also wrote books and published more than twenty personal books from the time when she began writing in 1968.[18] She also published anthological books in 2012 and 2016.[18]

Personal life

Facio was born in San Isidro, Argentina in 1932.[8] She graduated from the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in 1953.[8] Afterward, she received a scholarship from the French government and began residing in Paris, where she studied visual arts and photography.[18]

Facio was a lesbian.[21] Her partner was María Elena Walsh, from 1978 until her death in 2011.[22]

Facio died in Buenos Aires on 18 June 2024, at the age of 92.[23][6]

Awards and honours

Selected publications

  • Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana. 1968.
  • Neruda, Pablo (1973). Geografía de Pablo Neruda [Geography of Pablo Neruda] (in Spanish). Barcelona: Aymá. ISBN 978-84-209-0165-7.
  • Facio, Sara & D'Amico, Alicia (1973). Retratos y Autorretratos: Escritores de América Latina [Portraits and Self-portraits: Writers of Latin America] (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Ediciones Crisis.
  • Facio, Sara & D'Amico, Alicia (1976). Cómo Tomar Fotografías [How to Take Photographs] (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: La Azotea.
  • Humanario (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: La Azotea. 1976.
  • Facio, Sara (1980). Actos de fe en Guatemala [Acts of Faith in Guatemala] (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: La Azotea.
  • Facio, Sara (ed.) (1981). Fotografia Argentina actual = Photographie Argentine actuelle = Argentinian Photography Today (in Spanish, EN). Buenos Aires, Argentina: La Azotea.
  • Facio, Sara; D'Amico, Alicia; Walsh, María Elena (1985). Fotografía Argentina: 1960–1985 (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: La Azotea. ISBN 978-950-9536-02-9.
  • Facio, Sara (1988). Grete Stern (in Spanish, EN). Buenos Aires, Argentina: La Azotea. ISBN 978-950-9536-05-0.
  • Facio, Sara (1992). Retratos: 1960-1992 [Portraits: 1960-1992] (in Spanish, EN). Buenos Aires: La Azotea. ISBN 978-950-9536-14-2.
  • Facio, Sara (1995). La Fotografía en la Argentina: Desde 1840 a nuestros días [Photography in Argentina: From 1840 to the present day] (in Spanish, EN). Buenos Aires, Argentina: La Azotea. ISBN 978-950-9536-17-3.
  • Facio, Sara (ed.) (1996). Fotografía Argentina Actual DOS (in Spanish, EN). Buenos Aires, Argentina: La Azotea Editorial Fotográfica. ISBN 978-950-9536-19-7.

References

  1. ^ Viater, Nora (1 October 2011). "María Elena Walsh: adiós a la mujer que nos enseñó a ser chicos y nos hizo crecer" [María Elena Walsh: goodbye to the woman who taught us to be children and made us grow] (in Spanish). Clarin. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016.
  2. ^ M.L. Sougez & H. Pérez Gallardo (2003). Diccionario de historia de la fotografía. Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra. p. 166. ISBN 84-376-2038-4.
  3. ^ Sanchis, Verónica (30 November 2018). "Foto Féminas' Library – María Cristina Orive – 1931–2017". Foto-Feminas. Archived 17 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  4. ^ "LA AZOTEA EDITORIAL (Blog Oficial): Historia". Archived 10 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ^ "Sara Facio | Fundación Konex" (in Spanish). www.fundacionkonex.org. Retrieved 2024-06-24.
  6. ^ "Murió Sara Facio, cronista visual de la cultura argentina en el siglo XX". Infobae. 19 June 2024. Archived 20 June 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  7. ^ "Sara Facio". Art Forum.com. 10 April 2018. Archived 19 June 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  8. ^ "Con osadía y técnica Sara Facio supo ver el mundo y abrir los ojos ajenos" [With daring and technique, Sara Facio knew how to see the world and open the eyes of others] (in Spanish). El Territorio Misiones. 10 April 2008. Archived 17 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  9. ^ "Alicia d' Amico". AWARE Women artists / Femmes artistes. Archived 10 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  10. ^ Rigat, Leticia (12 May 2020). "Los Coloquios Latinoamericanos de Fotografía y la reconfiguración de las prácticas fotográficas" (in Spanish). Dixit. ' (32): 33–45. doi:10.22235/d.vi32.2108. ISSN 0797-3691. Archived 19 June 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  11. ^ Sougez, Marie-Loup & Pérez Gallardo, Helena (2003). Diccionario de historia de la fotografía. Cuadernos arte Cátedra. 1 ed. Madrid: Cátedra. p. 120. ISBN 978-84-376-2038-1.
  12. ^ "Murió Sara Facio, un ícono del arte y la fotografía argentina – La Voz del Pueblo" (in Spanish). Archived 19 June 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  13. ^ Gigena, Daniel (15 November 2018). "El "túnel " del Teatro San Martín donde la fotografía cuenta su historia" [The "tunnel" of the San Martín Theater where photography tells its story] (in Spanish). La Nacion. Archived 25 March 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  14. ^ Foster, David William (2014). Argentine, Mexican, and Guatemalan Photography: Feminist, Queer, and Post-Masculinist Perspectives. University of Texas Press. pp. 140–141. ISBN 9780292768338. Archived 10 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 17 December 2018. – via Project MUSE.
  15. ^ "LAS12- mirada de mujeres en Pagina/12". www.pagina12.com.ar. Archived 21 December 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2024-06-19.
  16. ^ Trevino, Rose Zertuche (November 1996). "Children's Books in Spanish". School Library Journal. 42 (11): 134. Archived 20 June 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 17 December 2018. – via EBSCOhost.
  17. ^ Centenera, Mar (12 March 2018). "La Argentina de los últimos 591 días de Perón, retratada por Sara Facio" (in Spanish). El País. ISSN 1134-6582. Archived 10 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  18. ^ "FACIO SARA". Museo Moderno. Archived 19 June 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  19. ^ "Sara Facio". MoMA. Archived 3 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  20. ^ "8 fotos emblemáticas de la gran Sara Facio" [8 emblematic photos of the great Sara Facio] (in Spanish). Argentina Ministry of Culture. 17 April 2020. Archived from the original on 19 September 2021.
  21. ^ "Visibilidad de las mujeres queer en Argentina". Ella Global. 20 April 2021. Archived 11 December 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  22. ^ "Compromiso, pasión y humildad". Carasycaretas.org. 9 January 2023. Archived 19 June 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  23. ^ Zacharías, María Paula (18 June 2024). "Murió a los 92 años la fotógrafa Sara Facio, una personalidad insoslayable de la cultura argentina". La Nación. Archived 19 June 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  24. ^ "Sara Facio | Fundación Konex" (in Spanish). www.fundacionkonex.org. Archived 31 January 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  25. ^ "Konex Awards 1992: Visual Arts | Konex Foundation". www.fundacionkonex.org. Archived 31 January 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  26. ^ "os ganadores del Premio a la Trayectoria del Salón Nacional de Artes Visuales 2019" (in Spanish). cultura.gob.ar. 6 September 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2024.

Further reading

  • Foster, David William (1998). "Sara Facio as Urban Photographer". Buenos Aires: perspectives on the city and cultural production. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. pp. 170–94. ISBN 978-0-8130-1613-9.
  • Facio, Sara; Gasió, Guillermo; Docampo, Mariana; Facio, Sara (2016). La foto como pasión. 1 ed. Buenos Aires: Planeta. ISBN 978-950-49-5177-3.
  • Schwartz, Marcy E. & Tierney-Tello, Mary Beth (eds.) (2006). Photography and writing in Latin America: double exposures. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 978-0-8263-3808-2. OCLC ocm61478754
  • Sara Facio | Antológica (1960–2005) (in Spanish). Fundación OSDE. 2015.