As a nine-year-old child in war-torn Angola, Nelson Da Costa (Master of Fine Arts candidate) witnessed the brutal murder of his father. Two years later, soldiers killed his mother, his two brothers, and his sister. At age 12, he spent six months in a hospital after being shot.

It was in that hospital that Nelson began to discover the power of art. “One of the doctors gave me some colors and paper,” he recalls. “As I recovered, I realized that drawing and painting had a very big impact on me.”

Nelson emigrated to Cuba at age 14, and came to Boston in 2002 to focus seriously on making art. He enrolled at the Museum School three years later, drawn by the School’s connection with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and by a supportive faculty. “I have a story to tell,” says Nelson. “I have so much to say about the experiences I have been through. I use art to communicate about war and destruction, about sadness and poverty, about death and where people are going when they die.”