GRACIELA SACCO was born in Rosario in 1956 and passed away in 2017. She graduated in 1987 with a thesis devoted to the Argentinian avant-garde movement of 1960 in which the artistic expressions of that decade established strong ties between artistic experimentation and social commitment, culminating in Rosario, the artist’s hometown, with ̈Tucumán Arde ̈ (Tucuman Burns) now esteemed as a landmark of international Political Conceptualism. This generation of artists was harshly repressed by the military dictatorship that seized the country from 1976 to 1983.
Graciela Sacco ́s work demonstrates, even under democracy, that the retrieval of memory is a collective and conflictive task. Her artwork questions the relationship between memory and photography, where memory requires an active subject capable of dealing with the fragility and versatility of the signs. In Spanish, “sense” alludes to the meaning and body affected by sensory perceptions. Beauty and mystery are the means by which Graciela Sacco appeals to our feelings by multiplying and questioning the assignment of meaning.
As a visual artist with a prominent position in the contemporary art scene, Graciela has represented Argentina in several international biennials including Shanghai Biennial (2004), Venice (2001), La Habana (1997 and 2000), Mercosur (1997), Sao Pablo (1996), 1st Biennial of Photography in Vigo (2000), The Urban Art Festival Toulouse (2002), among others. She has been awarded with various distinctions and has received many international accolades including Artist of the year, by the Argentinean Association of Art Critics (2001), Konex award (2002 – 2012) among others. She has published numerous books such as M2 Volúmen I (2009), Shadows from the South and the North (2004), Imágenes en Turbulencia: Migraciones, cuerpos, memoria (2000), Escrituras Solares (1994). She has been featured in leading publications such as America’s Society Magazine, Bomb, Art Nexus, Art News, Art in Americas and the New York Times. Her works has been shown in solo and group exhibitions in Argentina, England, Germany, France, Switzerland, Israel, United States, Mexico, Brazil, Cuba, Peru. Today, her work is present in prestigious national and international collections such as MAMBA – Museum of Modern Arts, Buenos Aires, Argentina; MACRO – Museum of Contemporary Art from Rosario, Argentina; Bronx Museum of New York, EEUU; MFAH – Museum of Fine Arts Houston, EEUU; Museum of Arts Fort Lauderdale, EEUU; The Microsoft Art Collection, Washington, EEUU; Capitolio Policultural, Porto Alegre, Brazil; Essex University, Colchester, England; among others.
“Tribute” brings to New York some of her finest and more emblematic works in a show presented by reknown curators Andres Duprat (Director of the National Museum of Fine Arts of Argentina) and Fernando Farina, under the sponsorship of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (MNBA), the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Argentina.