(EEUU/RD, 1989)

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Danessa Santana

(United States, 1989) is a Dominican-American multidisciplinary artist who works with paper, textiles, and found materials to construct detailed compositions in papercutting, soft sculptures, performances, and installations. Her work focuses on the construction of utopias and explorations of identity through representations of landscapes, cultural symbols, and superhuman beings.

Santana is a graduate of the Altos de Chavón School of Design in La Romana, Dominican Republic, where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree (2015). She also participated in the Intensive Mixed Media Studies Program at the School of Visual Arts in New York (SVA, 2015), completed a specialization in Paper Engineering under the tutelage of Rachel Grobstein (2016). Danessa has undertaken several artist residencies in France (Plein Jour 2023, LIEU(X) 2024), Dominican Republic (Nacán Artist Residence 2024), New York (New York Latin American Triennal 2025), Berlin (Culterim 2025-2026) and Kyoto (2026).

Since 2013, Danessa has participated in several group exhibitions and art fairs with Altos de Chavón, Casa Quién, Museo de las Casas Reales Santo Domingo, SVA and Cat’s AXE in New York, and Culterim in Berlin. In 2023, she had her first solo exhibition, “Memoria Permanente” (Permanent Memory), at Priego Estudio. Her works belong to institutional collections, including the Altos de Chavón Cultural Foundation and Casa Quién, as well as private collections in the Dominican Republic, the United States, India, and Mexico. Danessa currently lives between New York City and Berlin as of 2025.