Info

Ludi Leiva (b. Toronto, 1990) is a Canadian-American visual artist of Guatemalan and Slovak heritage working between Stockholm and London. Her practice is a contemplative dialogue between landscape, body, and memory. Through an interplay of drawing, painting, and printmaking, she creates dreamlike realms where the observed world meshes with remembered experience. Shaped by her mixed heritage, her work investigates connections between ancestral wisdom, place, and belonging.

In 2023, Ludi began a dedicated shift from her established drawing and illustration work—which she developed through self-directed learning—toward an interdisciplinary fine art practice. Her emerging body of work arises from a period of deep exploration of materiality and meaning, marking a significant evolution in her development. This ongoing transition has allowed her to focus on the development of an artistic practice that rests upon her visual foundations while exploring new conceptual territory, supported by her current formal drawing education at The Royal Drawing School.

ludi [at] ludileiva.com

ludileiva

Education

2025 / Drawing development year / The Royal Drawing School / London, UK
2023 / MFA / Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts & Design / Stockholm, Sweden
2018 / Independent studies / Pratt Institute / Brooklyn, NY, USA
2013 / BA / University of British Columbia / Vancouver, BC, Canada

Select exhibitions
2025 / Works on Paper 7, Blue Shop Gallery, London, UK (upcoming)
2025 / Hardly Soft, NE Sculpture Gallery Factory, Minneapolis, US (currently on view)
2024 / VITAL SIGNS: another world is possible, The Science Gallery, London, UK (currently on view)
2024 / Mine, Yours, Ours, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, US
2024 / Transcending Time, The Arts Society, Nerja, ES
2023 / Kairos, Samsen Atelier, Stockholm, SE (solo)
2023 / A Home is a Portal, Körsbärsgården Konsthall, Burgsvik, SE (solo)
2023 / Lugares, PTM Contemporary (NY Latin American Art Triennial), New York, US
2023 / HOY, National Museum of Somalia, Mogadishu, SO
2023 / MFA Thesis Exhibition, Konstfack University, Stockholm, SE
2023 / Experiments in Print, Candyland, Stockholm, SE
2020 / DULA: Tastes Like Home, TIER, Berlin, DE
2019 / Cluster Illustration Fair, The Truman Brewery, London, UK

Select grants, awards & recognition
2025 / Studio grant, City of Stockholm
2024 / One year working grant, The Swedish Writers' Fund
2024 / Longlisted, World Illustration Awards
2024 / Shortlisted, Villa Lena Foundation Residency
2024 / One year working grant, The Swedish Arts Grants Committee
2024 / Studio grant, City of Stockholm
2023 / Shortlisted, Ung Svensk Form (Young Swedish Art & Design Award)
2023 / Exhibition grant, The National Association of Swedish Art Societies
2023 / Award, Konstfacks Foundation
2023 / Project grant, Beata Brummers Foundation
2023 / Project grant, Ulla Fröberg-Cramérs Foundation
2020 / Artist grant, Choose Democracy
2018 / Illustrator in Residence, The Other Art Fair: Brooklyn
2018 / Fellow in Fiction (residency), Lambda Literary Foundation

Artist talks

2024 / Artist talk, Hem, Sunday Sessions (Stockholm, SE)
2023 / Artist talk, A Home is a Portal, Östberga Kulturhus (Stockholm, SE)
2023 / Artist talk, A Home is a Portal, Körsbärsgården Konsthall (Burgsvik, SE)
2019 / Artist Talk, Roxy Times Square (New York City, US)

Select press
2024 / “Featured Artist: Ludi Leiva” Artists Responding To... Quarterly Magazine, edited by Polly Bates
2024 / “Ludi Leiva’s A Home is a Portal” The One Club for Creativity, written by Alixandra Rutnik
2023 / “Signs from the Underground, Home Invasion and Textile Bliss” C-Print Journal, written by Ashik & Koshik Zaman
2020 / "How Can Illustration Be Used as an Effective Tool for Activism?" Elephant Magazine, written by Ayla Angelos