CURTIS TALWST SANTIAGO was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in 1979. His artistic work addresses topics of memory, ancestry, and migration and is characterized by the weaving of historical and speculative narratives to question colonialism. Curtis’s work draws from history, art, and literature, acknowledging that everything is a redescription or interpretation of what historians might call truth. Apart from painting, Curtis addresses multiple issues through miniature dioramas and sculptures in reclaimed ring boxes. His Infinity series, for example, touches on ancestral storytelling in African and Caribbean cultures, legacies of migration and slave trade, and efforts to assimilate Native Americans to US colonial societies and customs.

Curtis studied as an apprentice of Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun and at the New York Studio School. He has completed several residencies including Black Rock Senegal, Pioneer Works Brooklyn, and at the University of Tennessee. He has exhibited internationally at museums such as the Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, The Drawing Center, New York; The FLAG Art Foundation, New York; The New Museum, New York; The Eli and Edythe Broad Museum at Michigan State University, East Lansing; the Institute of Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond; the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan; The Pérez Art Museum Miami; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; and the SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah; among others. Curtis and his work was included in the inaugural 2019 Toronto Biennial of Art in Toronto, Canada, the SITE Santa Fe SITELines. 2018 Biennial, Casa Tomada, in Santa Fe, NM, and was featured in the 2018 Biennale de Dakar in Dakar, Senegal. Curtis currently lives and works in Munich, Germany.

More of the artist’s work may be enjoyed on his website and IG account.