Info
Shaped by her Guatemalan and Slovak heritage, her work investigates connections between ancestral wisdom, place, and belonging. Evolving from early work in illustration, Ludi’s current interdisciplinary practice is dedicated to deeper explorations of materiality and meaning.
CV
Education
2025 / Drawing development year / Royal Drawing School / London, UK
2023 / MFA / Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts & Design / Stockholm, Sweden
2018 / Continuing studies / Pratt Institute / Brooklyn, NY, USA
2013 / BA / University of British Columbia / Vancouver, BC, Canada
Select exhibitions
2024
VITAL SIGNS: another world is possible, The Science Gallery, London, UK (currently on view)
The Collective II, Visionary Projects, New York City, US
Mine, Yours, Ours, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, US
Transcending Time, The Arts Society, Nerja, ES
2023
Kairos, Samsen Atelier, Stockholm, SE (solo)
A Home is a Portal, Körsbärsgården Konsthall, Burgsvik, SE (solo)
Lugares, PTM Contemporary (NY Latin American Art Triennial), New York, US
HOY, National Museum of Somalia, Mogadishu, SO
MFA Thesis Exhibition, Konstfack University, Stockholm, SE
Experiments in Print, Candyland, Stockholm, SE
2020
DULA: Tastes Like Home, TIER, Berlin, DE
2019
Cluster Illustration Fair, The Truman Brewery, London, UK
Grants, residencies & other achievements
2025
Studio grant, City of Stockholm
2024
One year working grant, The Swedish Writers' Fund
Longlisted, World Illustration Awards
Shortlisted, Villa Lena Foundation Residency
One year working grant, The Swedish Arts Grants Committee
Studio grant, City of Stockholm
2023
Shortlisted, Ung Svensk Form (Swedish Art & Design Award)
Exhibition grant, The National Association of Swedish Art Societies
Award, Konstfacks Foundation
Project grant, Beata Brummers Foundation
Project grant, Ulla Fröberg-Cramérs Foundation
2022
Jury, Young Guns 20, The One Club for Creativity
2020
Grant, Choose Democracy
2018
Illustrator in Residence, The Other Art Fair: Brooklyn
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
Artist statement
My practice is a contemplative dialogue between landscape, body, and memory. Through an interplay of drawing, painting, and printmaking, I create dreamlike realms where the observed world meshes with remembered experience. Working primarily with mixed media—acrylic, oil, pastel, charcoal, and colored pencil—I build entropic textures through intuitive mark-making and monotype techniques. These layered surfaces emerge as maps of internal states, where abstraction and figuration overlap to investigate nostalgia and the fluidity of being.
Drawing particularly from the mountains of my childhood home and the volcanic landscapes of Guatemala, my work examines the intersection of ecology and metaphysics. These landscapes serve both as literal reference and metaphorical ground for exploring my intercultural identity and ancestral knowledge. Through my practice, I negotiate the tension between inner and outer worlds, seeking to understand how place shapes consciousness and memory shapes self.