Mexican photographer born on February 19, 1980. He graduated from Universidad Iberoamericana with a degree in Communications and studied at the Escuela Activa de Fotografía. About his work: Santiago Arau’s practice considers the image as a way to narrate what happens within both natural and artificial contexts. Architecture, the urban environment, and everyday situations become pretexts for visual commentary on the relationship between individuals and the spaces they inhabit. He understands photography as a means of knowledge and investigation of one's surroundings—a medium that examines and explains what occurs not in the moment before or after, but precisely in the one that is captured. To reconstruct reality through the photographic image, as Santiago does, requires a meticulous gaze that knows how to wait for perfect conditions. Only then is it possible to trace and identify natural elements, human presence, environmental conditions, the landscape, and the climate in order to depict a parallel reality. The capture of light and movement are fundamental elements in Arau’s work, making his photography feel alive—so much so that one can almost hear it. In his photographs, we can often recognize the places, the people, or the situations; yet what always surprises is the way he makes us see these things, provoking in the viewer the sensation of witnessing something for the very first time. There are countless ways to photograph the same scene, the same building, or the same city. What matters is not only the subject captured, but the gaze that reconstructs it—the gaze that renders it unique. His work has been exhibited in venues such as the Museum of Modern Art in the Philippines, Los Angeles, California, and the Museum of Mexico City. His campaign for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics (as director and photographer) won the Golden Rings Award granted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Santiago has also participated in numerous publications as a photographer and as director of various film projects. He is one of the pioneering photographers in the use of drones, aerial photography, and a specialist in the time-lapse video technique. He has developed projects across Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Text by Graciela Kasep (2017).

Santiago created aerial photographs of Baja California Sur and particularly of El Ganzo’s surroundings and one of these photos ("Estero de San José, 2025") was printed as a large scale piece (300 x 200 cm / 118 x 78 in) and became part of El Ganzo’s art collection. On Wednesday 8th, Arau’s exhibition “Baja California from above” opened at La Galeria holding twenty unique photographs of Baja California.