EXHIBITION STATEMENT

For more than a year, I could not travel abroad, so I decided to travel within.

“The Voyage Within” is an auto-biographical exhibition that takes us through the emotional journey of introspection, resilience and empowerment.

For more than a year, I expressed my inner fears and joys on these canvases like they were pages of a personal journal.

Each artwork represents a different state of mind in a nonsequential order.

I frequently painted them after my meditation sessions or after spending time surrounded by nature. The emotional transformation is shown through colors and textures.

This journey helped me see the light and balance while embracing my own shadow and chaos.

After a year, I realized I was discovering a different woman within me. A more empowered, stronger and happier person was hidden on layers of fear and uncertainty. She was patiently waiting for me to wake her up. I finally released myself from the version of me that was just trying to survive and found a grateful human being who is ready to live and love.

The artist behind Dos Santos artworks is Vanessa Daly.

She is a contemporary abstract artist and Psychologist M.S. based in Fort Worth, Texas.

She was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela in 1988.

Since her childhood, she has been influenced not only by the Latin American culture but also by her Portuguese and Italian family roots. Her brother and grandfather are also visual artists. She watched them paint and had their artworks around the home, making it colorful and unique.

She studied Psychology in Bogotá, Colombia, and got immersed in painting as a therapeutic tool. This changed her life and allowed her to deeply connect with people beyond words.

She moved to Fort Worth, Texas, in 2017, and had gained recognition for her emotional abstract art and self-expression workshops. She had exhibited in different galleries such as Fort Worth Community Arts Center, Gallery Dental, Fort Works Art, The Lawley Art Group, FGIII Gallery and Texas Visual Arts Association Gallery, in which she was awarded a Best in Show in 2018.

Her paintings represent her emotions as a human, as a woman and as a multicultural person in America.

She is an avid supporter of different causes and foundations such as Make-A-Wish, Color Me Empowered and FLITE to Freedom, focused on supporting children and women.

She currently works in the Marketing and Advertising fields in which she is dedicated to promoting cultural diversity and inclusion.