Artist Feature: Ludmila Leiva
"Illustration that investigates queerness, femininity, diaspora, and trauma."
Ludmila Leiva is an illustrator, painter, and multidisciplinary artist living and working in Brooklyn, NY. Her work portrays and interrogates the role of women and women of color in society.
From the artist:
I was born suspended between worlds—the mixed daughter of a Guatemalan mother and a Slovak father—and my entire life has been an attempt to understand my place. I spent my childhood between a coastal mountain town near Vancouver, Canada and a small suburb of Seattle, WA—thousands of miles away from my ancestral homelands. Having spent most of my life feeling untethered, I have dedicated myself to interrogating some of the subjects that haunt me: queerness, femininity, diaspora, and trauma.
I am self taught and my artistic practice evolves with the seasons but, currently, my work is currently focused on storytelling through both visual art and prose. I am particularly interested in examining the ways that women of color move through and take up space in society.
Above all else, my artistic practice is an act of healing and resistance—a ritual that investigates the forgotten and overlooked mythologies of those who, like me, have wondered if and where they truly belong.
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Ludmila Leiva is a multidisciplinary artist. Born in Toronto, Canada to a Guatemalan mother and a Slovak-Canadian father, she currently lives in Brooklyn, New York with her partner and many houseplants. Her previous illustration clients include Tumblr, Coachella, Vice, and Condé Nast. Purchase prints here and follow Ludmila here.