Reva Santo is a movement, sound, word and image-based multimedia artist. She graduated in Film Studies from Columbia University, where she was awarded the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts for her script Ash(é), and the Henry Evans Travel Fellowship to conduct arts-based research in the Caribbean. During her time there, she made the short film “Consejos de la Isla” or “Advice for the Island”, which was shown in a solo show at Studio 1.0.6. Gallery in Los Angeles, and most recently at “Who Owns Black Art: Questions of Cultural Ownership” curated by Zeal Press and Superposition Gallery. In 2017, she was selected to direct a visual poem “Wishes for Mom” for the Visible Poetry Project. The piece went on to be featured on “movingpoems.com”, shown at City Reliquary in New York, and in 2018 it was an official selection for Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery’s Juried Exhibition. Her upcoming film “Trust Issues” was the recipient of the Panavision “New Filmmaker Program Grant” and is set to be released in 2021.
Her social practice, Honey & Smoke, is a global artist community & platform focused on creating space for artists to meditate on the important themes of our time. Through events, workshops, and facilitated conversations, H&S fosters community and resources for artists to continue creating and engaging with intentionality, with the hopes of creating positive transformation for the world.
Reva’s magic lies in her ability to pinpoint the emotional pulse of her inquiries, which tend to centralize the afro-diaspora, and issues faced by marginalized communities. She creates transformative, alchemic works that heal and imagine new possibilities for the world. Her creative practice is predicated on an understanding that she is a continuation of her ancestors’ greatest struggles, desires, and dreams.