Photo by Tom Epperson

Jenny Santi is a Filipino artist, author, and psychotherapist based in New York City. She started painting in 2017, when she found solace in art while healing from a bout with depression and burnout from her social impact career. At first self-taught, she has since honed her skills through training in old master’s techniques at the Florence Academy of Art, as well as contemporary non-objective painting at Art Students League of New York, mainly under the guidance of celebrated American artist James Little.

Jenny’s evolution into painting allowed her to extend the range of her creative abilities and multidisciplinary interests. For her, the act of painting is not a political nor a social commentary; rather something emotional - a form of expression, an act of meditation. Her paintings have a formal element as well, as she looks at them in terms of color, light, form and composition. She believes in the healing power of art, as well as the human ability to find hope, beauty, and the possibility of redemption amidst the deepest melancholy. She is the author of The Giving Way to Happiness: Stories & Science Behind the Life-changing Power of Giving (Penguin Random House, 2014). Her works are held by private collectors including Lionel Richie, as well as other collectors across the USA and Asia.