Atlanta-based artist Carol Santos' artwork and projects tell stories of ancestral heritage

On the “City Lights” series “Speaking of Art,” local artists share insights into their influences, processes and experiences in town. This edition focuses on Atlanta artist, painter and sculptor Carol Santos. 

Santos works mostly on childhood memories, the preservation of history and familial traditions. Through her artwork, she tells stories of her childhood in Brazil. After Santos moved to the U.S. with her husband and started a family — they’ve been in Atlanta for over 20 years — she found it important to teach their three children about where she came from.

“I started developing this practice of interviewing family members, researching birth certificates, old photographs; trying to bring those old memories, those experiences that I had and the ones that my parents and my aunts and uncles had, into my work,” Santos said.