Sara Facio (18 April 1932 – 18 June 2024) was an Argentine photojournalist and publisher. She was best known for having photographed, along with Alicia D'Amico, various cultural personalities, including Argentine writers

Julio Cortázar Julio Florencio Cortázar (26 August 1914 – 12 February 1984; ) was an Argentine and naturalised French novelist, short story writer, poet, essayist, and translator. Known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, Cortázar influenc ...

María Elena Walsh María Elena Walsh (1 February 1930 – 10 January 2011) was an Argentine poet, novelist, musician, playwright, writer and composer, mainly known for her songs and books for children. Her work includes many of the most popular children's books ...

and

Alejandra Pizarnik Flora Alejandra Pizarnik (29 April 1936 – 25 September 1972) was an Argentine poet. Her idiosyncratic and thematically introspective poetry has been considered "one of the most unusual bodies of work in Latin American literature", and has be ...

. She co-founded the publishing house "La Azotea" alongside María Cristina Orive in 1973. 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.

Career

Facio began working as an assistant to

Annemarie Heinrich Annemarie Heinrich (9 January 1912 – 22 September 2005) was a German-born naturalized Argentine photographer, who specialized in portraits and nude photographs. Heinrich is considered one of Argentina's most important photographers. She is kno ...

and started taking her own photographs in 1957. In 1960, Facio and Alicia D'Amico opened a photography studio together. Facio co-founded La Azotea with

María Cristina Orive María Cristina Orive (1930/1931 – 2 September 2017) was a Guatemalan photographer who has worked as a photojournalist. Together with Sara Facio, she founded the Buenos Aires publishing house La Azotea which specializes in publishing the work of L ...

in 1973. La Azotea was the first publishing house printing photo books in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

. Following the 1978 "Latin American Colloquiums of Photography" held in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, Facio worked with fellow artists to co-found the (). 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. Facio served as the director of the gallery until 1998. One of her most notable works of photojournalism was her coverage of

Peronism Peronism, also known as justicialism, is an Argentine ideology and movement based on the ideas, doctrine and legacy of Juan Perón (1895–1974). It has been an influential movement in 20th- and 21st-century Argentine politics. Since 1946, P ...

in Argentina during the 1970s. She was noted for photographing marchers and protesters at

Plaza de Mayo The Plaza de Mayo (, ; ) is a city square and the main foundational site of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was formed in 1884 after the demolition of the Recova building, unifying the city's Plaza Mayor and Plaza de Armas, by that time known as ''Pl ...

in Buenos Aires, which was different as most photojournalists focused their works through aerial views of

Casa Rosada The ''Casa Rosada'' (), , is the president of the Argentine Republic's official workplace, located in Buenos Aires. The palatial mansion is known officially as ''Casa de Gobierno'' ("House of Government" or "Government House"). Normally, the pre ...

. During her career, she was also known for photographing

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...

Astor Piazzolla Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (, ; March 11, 1921 – July 4, 1992) was an Argentine tango composer, bandoneon player, and arranger. His works revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed '' nuevo tango'', incorporating elements fr ...

Pablo Neruda Pablo Neruda ( ; ; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto; 12 July 190423 September 1973) was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old an ...

Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian writer and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th centur ...

and

Mario Vargas Llosa Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (28 March 1936 – 13 April 2025) was a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist and politician. Vargas Llosa was one of the most significant Latin American novelists and essayists a ...

. In 1996, Facio illustrated ''Manuelita,'' a book of poetry by

. A large exhibition of her work, taken between 1972 and 1974 and focusing on the effect that

Juan Domingo Perón ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Philip ...

had on the country, was shown at the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, MALBA, in 2018. She was granted the Platinum

Konex Award Konex Foundation Awards, or simply Konex Awards, are cultural awards from the Konex Foundation honouring Argentine cultural personalities. History and purpose Konex Awards are granted by the Konex Foundation, created in 1980 in Argentina. The p ...

from Argentina in 1992. Her work is in the collection of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, MoMA. Facio donated 25% of the photographs that make up the photographic heritage of the National Museum of Fine Arts from her personal archive. Aside from photography, Facio also wrote books and published more than twenty personal books from the time when she began writing in 1968. She also published anthological books in 2012 and 2016.

Gallery

File:María Elena Walsh 1965.jpg,

, 1965 File:Cortázar.jpg,

, 1967 File:Borges facio 1968.jpg,

, 1968 File:Fotografía del escritor argentino Manuel Mujica Lainez.jpg,

Manuel Mujica Lainez Manuel Mujica LainezIn fact, the writer himself spelled his surnames without accents, as all his books published during his lifetime show. (11 September 1910 – 21 April 1984) was an Argentine novelist, essayist, translator and art critic. H ...

, 1969 File:Sara Facio, serie Funerales de Perón.jpg, ''Los funerales del Presidente Perón'', 1974

Personal life

Facio was born in San Isidro,

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

in 1932. She graduated from the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in 1953. Afterward, she received a scholarship from the French government and began residing in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where she studied visual arts and photography. Facio was a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

. Her partner was

, from 1978 until her death in 2011. Facio died in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

on 18 June 2024, at the age of 92.

Awards and honours

*1982:

– Photography () together with Alicia D'Amico by the

Konex Foundation Konex Foundation (''Fundación Konex'') is an Argentine cultural non-profit organization created in 1980 "to promote, stimulate, help, and participate in any form of cultural, educational, intellectual, artistic, social, philanthropic, scientific ...

*1992: Platinum Konex Award () in Photography by the Konex Foundation *2002: Grand Jury Konex Award – Visual Arts () by the Konex Foundation *2019: National Award for Artistic Career () by Argentia's

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: * Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) * Ministry of Culture (Argentina) * Minister for the Arts (Australia) * Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan)Ministry o ...

Selected publications

* * * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Facio, Sara 1932 births 2024 deaths 20th-century Argentine photographers 20th-century Argentine women photographers 21st-century Argentine artists 21st-century photographers 21st-century Argentine women photographers Argentine lesbian artists Argentine LGBTQ photographers Argentine photographers Argentine publishers (people) Illustrious Citizens of Buenos Aires Lesbian photographers Artists from Buenos Aires People from San Isidro, Buenos Aires Portrait photographers