Carolina Arantes is a Brazilian artist and visual storyteller based between France and Brazil, working internationally.
Originally from the countryside of Minas Gerais, she moved to São Paulo where she obtained a BFA in Photography at SENAC, and a social communication/journalism postgraduate diploma from the Catholic University of São Paulo. Two years later, she obtained a Master’s in cultural project development at the University of Barcelona.
Issues of gender and identity have always been central in her life, both at a personal and professional level. Being from a country where both gender and racial roles are extremely ingrained, and representation systems are very fragile, Carolina is deeply interested in the way that colonial history continues shaping democracies today. These are the basis of her meaningful reflections engaging personal projects with affected communities.
Recipient of the Fire-Cracker and the Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation grant, she was one of the female artists the Centre George Pompidou invited to the thematic year “Elles font l’Art (2020).
Her work is part of the BNF public collection and has been published by The New York Times, Stern, L’OBS, and National Geographic, among others. She has been a National Geographic Explorer since 2020.
Her book First Génération was shortlisted by Lens Culture as one the best Photo Books of 2023 and was among the Best Of by Nuit de l’Année at Rencontres d’Arles and Prix HIP the same year.
Her ongoing story Tombamento is part of a collective platform of representation and empowerment for the Afro-LGBTQIA+ and Afro-Feminist youth in Brazil: Fervo2K20. The project won the Human Rights Grant Fundo Brasil in 2020.
