Nicole Peyrafitte


Nicole Peyrafitte is a Pyrenean-born multi-disciplinary artist living in New York City. She considers herself a "Gascorican".

Early life and education

Nicole Peyrafitte was born in Luchon into the 5th generation of a family of restaurateurs and received her early cooking training from her grandfather Joseph Peyrafitte, a renowned chef. Later she perfected her skills, interning at several award-winning restaurants in France. She moved to the United States in 1987, where she developed her career as a collagist, painter, action-painter, singer, poet and filmmaker. She lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn with her husband poet Pierre Joris, where she moved in 2007 after 15 years in Albany, New York. She has two sons colorist, producer Joseph Mastantuono and award winning director Miles Joris-Peyrafitte

Career

Her work in visual art and action painting, research and poetry, film and video art, music and cooking draws upon her eclectic history and the experience of negotiating her identity across two continents and four languages.
Peyrafitte's work has been presented nationally and internationally. In New York, she has performed in venues such as The Poetry Project, A.I.R. Gallery, Zinc Bar, Bowery Poetry Club, Bard College, Borough of Manhattan Community College, The Vision Festival and Poets House. National venues include San Francisco State University, University of California San Diego, Berkshire Community College, the Walker Art Institute, Boise State University & Naropa University as artist/teacher in residence. Internationally, Birkbeck College, University of London, University of Edinburgh, Université de Bordeaux, Festival les Voix de La Méditerranée in Sète, Festival de San Luis Potosí and Festival International de la Lettras, Durango are some of the venues that have showcased her performances.

Publications

Occitan to English
French to English
English to French
"The 11 Women of Spirit" Salon Zücher New-York http://nicolepeyrafitte.com/salon-zurcher/
Concerning her work, poet/performer Anne Waldman has written: "Nicole Peyrafitte is a brilliant and most original performer. Her vocalizations, her songs, her gestures are provocative: both stunningly beautiful and powerfully unnerving at times. She is the chthonic goddess come to tempt you, scare you, transform you. She is in the poetic lineage of Greek tragedy, Café Voltaire antics, of dada and surrealist play but with a post-modern, hip sensibility. I am transfixed when she's on stage."

Awards and honors