Liudmila Ivella Velasco (Moscow, 1969) & Nelson Ramírez de Arellano (Berlin, 1969)

Liudmila & Nelson, as they are often simply known, are a collaborative husband-and-wife team known for their cutting-edge conceptual photography.  Nelson Ramírez is also Director of the Fototeca de Cuba (National Gallery of Photography) in Havana.

Some of their works atmospherically portray national icons, such as the José Martí monument in Havana’s Revolution Square, while others layer contemporary photos of the city with old negatives to suggest a new sense of freedom and prosperity, but also a loss of tradition and authenticity. “We select only certain segments of reality to work with, those with a stronger bond to our personal histories, like the phenomenon emigration/immigration, the city, the sea, time […], our relationship to art history, and finally, the Cuban Revolution, which occupies an important place in our artistic research.”

Liudmila & Nelson have exhibited widely on the international art scene including at the 55th Venice Biennale (2013), VIII and X Havana Biennials (2003, 2009); and the International Biennial of Cuenca, Ecuador (1998-99).  Their work is held in numerous collections such as the Minneapolis Institute of Art (USA); Museum of Modern Art (MUDAM) (Luxembourg); WestLicht Photography Museum (Vienna, Austria); Latin American Lehigh University Collection (Philadelphia, USA); and the Fototeca de Cuba (Havana).