Ana Paula dos Santos


Ana Paula dos Santos is a self-taught photographer whose practice is shaped by her coming of age in Brazil as well as her study of human geography and "decolonial studies," which gave her a language to put the experiences from her childhood and youth in Brazil into words and to grasp and understand these experiences within a broader context. Dos Santo's understanding of colonialism also led to a self-awareness that, as a Brazilian living in Germany, she wants to challenge stereotypes of the "exotic object" viewed as a sight from a distant country and through a colonial lens, in her work. The artist asserts that "I do not want to show a Brazil that makes itself beautiful for the colonizers, has to make itself beautiful and conceals mistakes in order to be treated graciously, but I want to show a Brazil as I see it with my eyes."

In her love for old and alternative cameras and her preoccupation with them, dos Santos has also found that exhibitions rarely present analog photography as a practice by black women photographers. This led the artist to wonder if one can also feel the spirit of colonialism in this pattern, which is closely linked to the history of photography. "The act that I, as an Afro-Brazilian woman, use this instrument to photograph the Terra Nova, the exotic land, with this apparatus of the colonizers, but not with the gaze of the colonizers, means to make the view, this way of looking at things, this subjectivity, available and accessible, thereby inviting the viewer to a confrontation and encounter with their own gaze," dos Santos states. The artist's photographic practice began ten years ago when she started experimenting with different cameras. She noticed that our eyes, feelings and life experiences play a big role in how we perceive the world around us and that it is exciting to see how our experiences and perceptions are conveyed through the camera.

In 2014, dos Santos received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Cultural Anthropology and Romance Studies (Latin American Studies) from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe University in Frankfurt. She received her Master of Arts in Human Geography with a focus in Decolonial Debates in Art in 2019 from the same school. Dos Santos lives and works in Frankfurt.


Available Works


Ana Paula dos Santos: Untitled (Deconstructing a Place in the Sun)

Untitled (Deconstructing a Place in the Sun)

Ana Paula dos Santos

2015

Giclée print on 305g Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper

33 1/8 x 23 3/8 in | 84.1 x 59.4 cm

Edition of 3 + 2 AP

Ana Paula dos Santos: Untitled (Deconstructing a Place in the Sun)

Untitled (Deconstructing a Place in the Sun)

Ana Paula dos Santos

2015

Giclée print on 305g Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper

13 3/4 x 19 3/4 in | 35 x 50 cm

Edition of 5 + 2 AP

Ana Paula dos Santos: Untitled (Deconstructing a Place in the Sun)

Untitled (Deconstructing a Place in the Sun)

Ana Paula dos Santos

2015

Giclée print on 305g Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper

19 3/4 x 13 3/4 in | 50 x 35 cm

Edition of 5 + 2 AP

Ana Paula dos Santos: Untitled (Deconstructing a Place in the Sun)

Untitled (Deconstructing a Place in the Sun)

Ana Paula dos Santos

2018

Giclée print on 305g Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper

19 3/4 x 13 3/4 in | 50 x 35 cm

Edition of 5 + 2 AP

Ana Paula dos Santos: Untitled (Deconstructing a Place in the Sun)

Untitled (Deconstructing a Place in the Sun)

Ana Paula dos Santos

2018

Giclée print on 305g Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper

13 3/4 x 19 3/4 in | 35 x 50 cm

Edition of 5 + 2 AP

Ana Paula dos Santos: Untitled (Deconstructing a Place in the Sun)

Untitled (Deconstructing a Place in the Sun)

Ana Paula dos Santos

2018

Giclée print on 305g Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper

13 3/4 x 19 3/4 in | 35 x 50 cm

Edition of 5 + 2 AP

Ana Paula dos Santos: Untitled (Deconstructing a Place in the Sun)

Untitled (Deconstructing a Place in the Sun)

Ana Paula dos Santos

2018

Giclée print on 305g Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper

13 3/4 x 19 3/4 in | 35 x 50 cm

Edition of 5 + 2 AP


Exhibitions & Art Fairs

Witnesses

Witnesses

Ana Paula dos Santos, Eun-Joo Shin, Nigatu Tsehay

4 Sep - 24 Oct 2020

Read more