Info
Ludi received an MFA from Konstfack University in Stockholm in 2023. She has been awarded grants from the Swedish Arts Grants Committee, Konstfacks Foundation, and the City of Stockholm. She has exhibited work internationally in London, Berlin, New York City, and Chicago. She lives and works in Stockholm.
As an illustrator, Ludi has collaborated with global clients including Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Smithsonian Institution, Phillips Auction House, Apple, and The Other Art Fair.
Artist statement
I approach my art practice as a spiritual act, a means of intuitively transmuting my subconscious into physical form. My work intertwines the real with the ethereal, constructing dreamlike realms through contemplation of place, ritual, identity, and the in-between. Working through combined media, I use acrylic and oil paint, oil pastel, oil bar, charcoal, and pencil, as well as monotype techniques to create layers of texture. My use of abstraction and intuitive mark-making serves as a vehicle for translating my internal states of being, memories, and dreams. My forms blend together, combining elements of abstraction and figuration to explore nostalgia, liminal space, and diasporic identity. Drawing further inspiration from ecology and metaphysics, my work attempts to reify the tension between inner and outer worlds while reconceptualizing my intercultural identity, ancestral knowledge, connection to land and place, and sense of self.
CV
Education
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
Solo exhibitions
2023 / Kairos, Samsen Atelier, Stockholm, SE
2023 / A Home is a Portal, Körsbärsgården Konsthall, Burgsvik, SE
Select group exhibitions
2024 / The Collective II, Visionary Projects, New York City, US
2024 / Mine, Yours, Ours, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, US
2024 / Transcending Time, The Arts Society, Nerja, ES
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
Grants & awards
2024 / One year working grant, The Swedish Writers' Fund
2024 / Longlisted, World Illustration Awards
2024 / One year working grant, The Swedish Arts Grants Committee
2024 / Studio grant, City of Stockholm
2023 / Shortlisted, Ung Svensk Form (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 / Grant, Choose Democracy
Residencies & additional achievements
2024 / Shortlisted, Villa Lena Foundation Residency
2022 / Jury, Young Guns 20, The One Club for Creativity
2018 / Illustrator in Residence, The Other Art Fair: Brooklyn
2018 / Fellow in Fiction (residency), Lambda Literary Foundation
Projects & teaching
2023 / A Home is a Portal (creator) / exhibited in full or part at: Körsbärsgården Konsthall (SE), National Museum of Somalia (SO), PTM Contemporary (US), The Arts Society (ES), Women Made Gallery (US), Östberga Kulturhus (SE) and Konstfack University (SE). Recipient of grants from: The Swedish Authors’ Fund, The National Association of Swedish Art Societies, Beata Brummers Foundation, Ulla Fröberg-Cramérs Foundation, and Konstfacks Foundation and shortlisted for Ung Svensk Form (Swedish Design Award)
2020 / Miraculous Futures (co-creator/presenter) / presented at Fontys Academy of the Arts (2020) Next Festival for Emerging Artists (2020) and Nederlands Film Festival (2019)
2017 / Neurospeculative Afrofeminism (contributing artist) / premiered at Sundance International Film Festival and also shown at SXSW, Tribeca Film Fest (Jury Honorable Mention), Gray Area Art & Technology Festival, Primer Speculative Futures Conference, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and New Inc: Versions Festival, among others
Select press
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