Desi Santiago is a New York City-based Puerto Rican visual and performance artist. Santiago’s artistic practice spans from 1990 to the present and is heavily influenced by the subcultures of nightlife, crossing over into the worlds of fashion and art. Santiago’s work addresses and utilizes the respective iconography of these worlds to create ceremonial experiences and relational performances. These often large-scale installations involve theatrical platforms, richly layered with philosophical, historical and social references.

Santiago has previously collaborated with luxury brand Louis Vuitton for their Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs Restropective at Musee des Arts Decoratif in Paris. He has designed fashion presentations for Loewe, Y-3 and Patrik Ervell. He has also designed masks and costumes for McQueen: Savage Beauty (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010 and V&A Museum, London, 2015), Madonna’s MDNA tour, and Hedwig and The Angry Inch on Broadway.