Silvie Defraoui is a visual artist born in St. Gallen in 1935.
Silvie Defraoui spent her childhood in St. Gallen and in Grisons. She first studied painting at the l’école des Beaux-Arts d’Alger and later ceramics at the l’école des Arts décoratifs de Genève. Between 1975 to 1994 she worked together with Chérif Defraoui (Geneva 1932–1994). From 1974 to 1999 she taught at the l'Ecole supérieure d'art visuel de Genève (today the Geneva School of Art and Design), where in 1975 she established together with Chérif Defraoui, the Mixed Media Studio.
1979, Cartographie des contrées à venir, Soares dos Reis National Museum, Porto
1989, Orient/Occident, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève / Musée Rath, Geneva.
1993, Les origines de la description, Le Magasin - Centre National d'Art Contemporain, Grenoble.
1996, Bruits de surface, Mamco, Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Geneva
2000, Nacht und Tag und Nacht, Helmhaus, Zurich
2004-2005, Archives du futur, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen; Mamco, Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Geneva
2009, Sombras electricas, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris
1976, Venice Biennial
1979, Photography as art, art as photography II und III, Gesamthochschule Kassel
1981, Ils se disent peintres, ils se disent photographes, Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris
1992, La Fontaine du désir, documenta IX, Kassel
1997, Magie der Zahl, Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart
1998, Freie Sicht aufs Mittelmeer, Kunsthaus, Zurich
2006, Kulturpreis of the City of St. Gallen
Kihm, Christophe; Vögele, Christoph (2014). Silvie Defraoui. Und überdies Projektionen (Archives du futur). Zürich: Edition Fink. p. 96. ISBN 9783037461815.
Bitterli, Konrad, editor (2004). Defraoui : archives du futur 1975 - 2004. Nürnberg: Verlag für Moderne Kunst. p. 248. ISBN 9783936711325.
