Curtis Talwst Santiago

Curtis Talwst Santiago (b. 1979, Edmonton, Alberta) is a multidisciplinary artist whose nomadic and decentralized lifestyle has immensely informed his explorations of transculturalism, memory, and ancestry in the contemporary experience. Using the concept of "genetic imagination" or the ability to access generational knowledge through imaginative recollection, he wades through lost and hidden histories in an attempt to understand and discover his diasporic heritage. Santiago studied as an apprentice of Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun. He has exhibited internationally at venues such as The Drawing Center, New York, NY; The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY; The New Museum, New York, NY; The Eli and Edythe Broad Museum at Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI; the Institute of Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA; the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada; The Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami, FL; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada; among others. He was included in the inaugural 2019 Toronto Biennial of Art in Toronto, Canada, and the SITE Santa Fe SITELines.2018 Biennial, Casa Tomada, in Santa Fe, NM. Santiago is an active member of the Board of Directors for the Drawing Center in New York, and this September 2021, will be an artist in residence at Black Rock Senegal. His work is in the Studio Museum's permanent collection in Harlem, New York, NY, Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama and the University of Saskatchewan. Santiago is currently living and working in Munich, Germany. Photo Credit: Holger Albrich.