Biography
Samantha da Silva (b. 1978, Santos, Brazil) is a Brazilian-born sculptural abstract artist based in Salt Lake City, Utah. A third-generation artist shaped by migration and adaptation, she has moved more than forty times in response to natural disasters and life circumstances. This transient existence — particularly the assimilation she experienced at age ten — has deeply informed her practice. Her art serves as both anchor and map: a way to reclaim belonging, root herself in new environments, and transform displacement into creative liberation.
Da Silva is best known for her large-scale relief sculptures that echo topographic maps and cracked earth. Built from locally foraged materials — iron-rich dirt, Great Salt Lake salt, sawdust, plaster, and organic matter — her works explore themes of place, home, belonging, immigration, and the passage of time. Through layered, textural surfaces, she creates pieces that feel both ancient and deeply personal.
Her work has been exhibited at Gallery MAR (Park City), Springville Museum of Art, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Ogden Contemporary Arts, Alpine Art Gallery, and other venues. She has completed residencies with Art Bridges Foundation / Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Jen Tough Gallery (Santa Fe), Arquetopia Foundation (Mexico), and Artes de México en Utah. In 2026 she was awarded the Individual Artist Advancement Grant from the Utah Division of Arts & Museums.
Da Silva is the author of Fearless Artistry: A Journey from Doubt to Creative Liberation (2026). She leads transformative workshops and retreats across the United States, Canada, Hawaii, Mexico, Costa Rica, and France, and has been featured in Architectural Digest, Bravo TV, HGTV, Park City Magazine, and Western Art & Architecture.
Ultimately, her practice is an invitation to move from doubt to fearless expression — and to remember that we can find home within the creative act itself.
Da Silva is best known for her large-scale relief sculptures that echo topographic maps and cracked earth. Built from locally foraged materials — iron-rich dirt, Great Salt Lake salt, sawdust, plaster, and organic matter — her works explore themes of place, home, belonging, immigration, and the passage of time. Through layered, textural surfaces, she creates pieces that feel both ancient and deeply personal.
Her work has been exhibited at Gallery MAR (Park City), Springville Museum of Art, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Ogden Contemporary Arts, Alpine Art Gallery, and other venues. She has completed residencies with Art Bridges Foundation / Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Jen Tough Gallery (Santa Fe), Arquetopia Foundation (Mexico), and Artes de México en Utah. In 2026 she was awarded the Individual Artist Advancement Grant from the Utah Division of Arts & Museums.
Da Silva is the author of Fearless Artistry: A Journey from Doubt to Creative Liberation (2026). She leads transformative workshops and retreats across the United States, Canada, Hawaii, Mexico, Costa Rica, and France, and has been featured in Architectural Digest, Bravo TV, HGTV, Park City Magazine, and Western Art & Architecture.
Ultimately, her practice is an invitation to move from doubt to fearless expression — and to remember that we can find home within the creative act itself.