Rochelle Costi

Rochelle Costi, 1961, Caxias do Sul, RS, Brazil.
Lives and works in São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
The act of collecting is in the roots of her work process. To rescue the meaning of materials and ordinary objects is one of the operations carried out by the photography works of Rochelle Costi. She has a degree in Social Communication from PUC/ Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, 1981. The following year, she spends six months in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, attending art ateliers at Guignard School in addition to an extension course of photographic processes of the XIX century at UFMG. Back to Porto Alegre, she puts up installations of photography and objects she collected such as ashtrays, suitcases, glasses and lamps. In 1983, she puts up solo Exhibition “Tentativa de Vôo” (Flight Attempt), at the Museu de Arte do Rio Grande do Sul Ado Malagoli – Margs and, from then on, shows her work in other states around Brazil. In 1988, she moves to Sao Paulo, where she works with editorial photography. She lived in London from 1991 to 1992, period when she went to Saint Martin School of Art and to Camera Work. Her actions in newspapers and magazines allowed her the contact with various environments, which stimulated her looks into private spaces that led to photographic series in which façades and the interior of houses are registered. She takes part in the Sao Paulo 24th. International Art Biannual, in 1998, as well as the 6th. and 7th. Habana Biannual, in 1997 and 1999 respectively, among other international art shows. In 1997, she is awarded the Prize Marc Ferrez of Photography from the Art National Foundation – Funarte and, three years later the Grant for Arts of the Vitae Foundation. Among group exhibitions she took part in, it is worth mentioning the one in 2007 as well as the 2009 Cuenca Biannual, in Ecuador, 2007.