1982, Brasília, Brazil
Lives and works in Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil

In his artistic practice, Dalton Paula uses painting, performance, and installations, and, through these several languages, he weaves relationships between image and power. In his repertoire of signs, the central figure is the Black body in diaspora, this body’s rhythms and rituals. His production features large- and small-scale paintings on different mediums, as well as his continuous interest in portraiture, which constitutes a proposal for a revision of official historiography. The people depicted are historical figures linked to the African diaspora, and many have had their image and actions erased. In his installations, Paula develops this line of investigation around the Black Atlantic and its rich symbolic language.

Dalton Paula holds a bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts from Universidade Federal de Goiás (UFG), and his work is part of important collections, such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), in New York; Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo; and Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP). His work was exhibited at the 32nd Bienal de São Paulo (2016), curated by Jochen Volz, and at the New Museum Triennial (New York, 2018), curated by Gary Carrion-Murayari and Alex Gartenfeld, also featuring in other collective exhibitions. He presented the solo show Dalton Paula: a Kidnapper of Souls (2020) at the Alexander and Bonin Gallery, in New York City.