1961, Caxias do Sul, Brazil. Lives and works in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Rochelle Costi works with the affective memory. The one that normally raises the dust from our subconscious, triggered by a component: the image. Costi’s research starts from her own imagery repertoire, and then formalized through a well-grounded technical accuracy of photography, videos and installations. Collecting key elements plus the photography are two practices that not only complement each other, but also merge into one whole thing, leading the spectator to an intimate confrontation with this universe, now common to all.
Rochelle Costi started her career as a cultural photographer for the press media in the 1980s. At the same time, her artistic research was already using objects that were part of her particular collection, and this practice will in some way guide her practice until today. In the 1990s, her subject matter opened up to the common, public scene. She represented, for instance, the severity of the facades of houses she called “blind”, passing through the haughtiness of the architectural space of the Fundação Bienal building. From the 2000s onwards, the artist turned to the particularity of other people's universe, be it in the choice of the most intimate of bedrooms, or in the impersonal of the knick-snacks shops. In the last few years, her investigation has acquired a more critical content, evidencing the social differences and the relations between humans and nature.
Born in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Rochelle Costi has a degree in Social Communication from PUC-RS and attended the Saint Martin School of Art and Camera Work, in London. Among the group shows she has featured are the 24th Sao Paulo Biennial, in 1998, 6th and 7th Havana Biennial, in 1997 and 1999. She has also participated in the II Mercosul Biennial, in 1999; II Tokyo Photography Biennial, in Japan, in 1997; XXVI Pontevedra Biennial, in Spain, 2000; 11th International Architecture Exhibition, Venice, Italy, in 2008. Among the institutions in which she has presented solo exhibitions are: Instituto Tomie Ohtake, Sao Paulo; Museu da Imagem e do Som, Sao Paulo; Itaú Cultural, Sao Paulo; MASP-SP; Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; and San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, etc. Her works feature collections such as Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Inhotim Institute, MASP, MAM-SP, MAM-RJ, and Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna, among others.