Curtis Talwst Santiago: Pay de Devil - Brang! Brang! - Pay de Devil

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Curtis Talwst Santiago, "Road March," 2020

Private Collection. Image courtesy of the artist.(1)

Curtis Talwst Santiago: Pay de Devil - Brang! Brang! - Pay de Devil

This exhibition is for Curtis Santiago’s parents and for all the parents of the diaspora whose traditions live on in their children. Pay de Devil - Brang! Brang! - Pay de Devil documents the stories about Trinidadian carnival that Santiago grew up with. This exhibition celebrates the processions, stories and characters of J’ouvert, the start of carnival. During this parade, bodies and faces are painted, and revellers dress up as devil characters or Jab Jabs who can be simultaneously frightening, joyous, antagonistic, and dangerous. J’ouvert and this exhibition are a celebration of ancestors and represent a liberation from the constraints of the past.

Curtis Talwst Santiago: Pay de Devil - Brang! Brang! - Pay de Devil is organized by the Art Gallery of Alberta and curated by Lindsey Sharman.

Curtis Talwst Santiago (b. 1979, Edmonton, Alberta) studied as an apprentice of Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun. Santiago 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, Saskatchewan, Canada; The Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami, FL; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada; Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada; Osage Gallery, Hong Kong and the SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, GA; among others. The artist 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, was featured in the 2018 Biennale de Dakar in Dakar, Senegal and in September 2021, he was an Artist in Residence at Kehinde Wiley's Black Rock Senegal. He is currently an active board member on the Board of Directors for the Drawing Center in New York and a visiting professor and Artist in Residence at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville until May 2022. His works are in multiple permanent museum collections. Santiago considers himself decentralized and is currently living and working in Munich, Germany.