Sylvia Safdie

He work has been included in numerous group shows since 1978. Among them were the First Biennale for Québec Artists, Galerie du Centre des arts Saidye Bronfman, Montréal (1978); Face à face, Powerhouse Gallery, Montréal (1984); Hidden Values, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario (1994); 25 Artists, 25 years: Celebrating the Faculty of Fine Arts, Galerie d'art Leonard & Bina Ellen, Université Concordia, Montréal (2001); Second Guanlan International Print Biennial 2009, Guanlan Museum, Shenzhen, China; and These Waters Have Stories To Tell, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, Wales (2018).

Her solo shows include: Galerie de l'Esprit, Mtl. (1975); Musée d'Art Vivant Véhicule, Md. (1980); Galerie/Gallery Don Stewart, Montreal, Toronto (1981, 1982, and 1983); Evelyn Aimis Gallery (1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992); Galerie J. Yahouda Meir, Mtl. (1987, 1994, 2015); AG Hamilton (1987); Centre Saidye Bronfman, Md. (1987); Galerie Montcalm, Hull, Que. (1988); 460 Ste. Catherine St. W., Suite 728, Mtl. (1994); Justina M. Barnicke Gal., Tor. (1994); Diane Farris Gal., Van. (1996); Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Tor. (1998, 2000); Paul Kuhn Gallery, Calgary (2002-2003, 2007); MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina (2011); and others. In 2021, she had an exhibition titled As I Walk at the Darling Foundry in Montreal called "a masterly installation" by the Canadian art magazine Vie des Arts and "haunting" by Art Forum.

Chronologically, Safdie used 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.

Sylvia Safdie (born 1942) is a Canadian artist who gathers and utilizes found natural materials in a variety of mediums such as painting, sculpture, drawing, installation, photography and video to explore different themes in her work, calling upon early childhood memories, her Jewish heritage, and her experience of moving from Israel to Canada. She works and lives in Montreal, Québec.

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 (born 1938) is an architect, and her other brother, Gabriel Safdie (born 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. She married, had two children, worked as a dental assistant and travelled. At the age of 26 while recovering from an operation she turned to painting. Safdie obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree at Concordia University, in Montreal, Québec, in 1975. Safdie currently resides and 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 until his death in 2018.