Ludmila Steckelberg a.k.a. VahMirè, is a multidisciplinary Brazilian artist and researcher based in Recife-Brazil. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts (UFG-Brazil). She has just returned to Brazil after living for 14 years in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, Canada, where she completed two master's programs, one in Museology (UdeM) and another in Art and Technology at UQAM. Her work has been exhibited in Europe (Germany and Lithuania), Canada (Quebec province), China (Shanxi province) and in her own country since 2005. In 2025 her work will be participating of a Brazilian art retrospective in London, Ontario, Canada. It has also been presented at several national and international publications and is part of private and public collections around the world.
For some years now, VahMirè has been working with a series of old photographs which she manipulates using digital and tangible interventions (textile). She has also worked on installations, composed by objects and textile artworks, where she tries to capture a sense of alterity and identity, perhaps lost in the immigration process.
Nowadays, she focuses her practice on photography, video-performance, video, and in the digital arts. Her aesthetics, at the crossroads between natural and supernatural, allows her to discuss presence and absence. VahMirè also approaches the question of identity fluidity caused by geographical context shifts.
Lately her work has been addressing the contact with the landscape (the body and the city), throughout strategies inspired by the Brazilian Anthropophagic Movement, to create a subjective, evolutive, world cartography of the cities she lives/lives/visits in the series Des[bravar] or (Un)wilding. Using photogrammetry - the capture of multiple photographs of a subject - VahMirè is creating 3D landscapes of places where she can feel a bilateral sense of belonging.
curriculum
Multidisciplinary artist, researcher and museologist since 2005: digital arts (photogrammetry, 3D modeling, animation and 3D printing), textile installation, photography and video-performance. Back in Brazil (Recife-PE) after 14 years in Canada. Master’s in Multimedia Arts at Université du Québec à Montréal - UQAM (2022). Museologist (UdeM, Master's - 2013), graphic designer (2005) and photographer (2002).
Languages: Portuguese, French, English, and notions of Spanish.
EXHIBITIONS (selection)
2025 - TROPI-X: Brazilian Art in Canadá From the 70's to the Present. London Museum. London, Canadá.
2023 - Transparências e Opacidades. Centro Cultural da Universidade Federal de Goiás. Goiânia.
2023 - (Invitation) XeroxObra. Koletivos_Avulsos. Brazil.
2023 - (Invitation) BarroObra. Koletivos_Avulsos. Brazil.
2022 - El Barrio, Tu Barrio. Month of the Latin-American heritage. LatinArte. Montréal, Canada.
2022 - ______, un quartier en définitions. Voies culturelles des faubourgs. Montréal, Canada.
2022 - Chaud maintenant IV. Galerie Galerie. Montréal, Canada.
2022 - Feira do Fuga – art fair. Atelier Valéria Pena-Costa. Brazil.
2022 - Dé[faroucher]. Master’s solo exhibition. CDEx. UQAM. Canada.
2021 - Art tout-terrain x 24. Claude Léveillée Cultural Centre. Exterior programming. Canada.
2020 - Pop Pavillon - Performance and Document: Sentience’s Traces. Pop Montréal and AEMAVM. Canada.
2020 - Maquis Online Festival. UQAM. Canada.
2020 - lanuitnoire. Nuit blanche. CDEx. UQAM. Canada.
2020 - Fête de l’art. UQAM. Canada.
2019 - Maquis Festival. Cœur des sciences de l’UQAM. Canada.
2018 - R, R & R Art Fair. MAI - Montréal arts interculturels. Canada.
2017 - Alternative realities (facts). Pingyao International Photography Festival. China.
2017 - The desire that crosses you. Performative event. Eastern Bloc. Canada.
2017 - Siegen colorem. Exposition solo. Art Gallery Siegen. Siegen. Germany.
2016 - Acervo Fotográfico. Museu de Artes Plásticas de Anápolis. Anápolis. Brazil.
2015 - FURTA COR. Solo exhibition. Espace Projet. Canada.
2014 - Face-to-face. Vhs-photogalerie. Stuttgart. Germany.
2013 - Miniature. Espace Projet. Canada.
2013 - Face-to-face. Galerie Städtische. Iserlohn. Germany.
2012 - Photographers:Network. Thomas Kellner Studio. Siegen. Germany.
2009 - Kaunas Photo Days Festival. Kaunas. Lithuania.
2007 - Foto Arte. A Ausência de Todas a Cores. Solo exhibition. Brasília. Brazil.
2006 - Time and generations. Solo exhibition. Kaunas Photo Days Festival. Kaunas. Lithuania.
2006 - Hodiernos: Art contemporain en Goiás. Espaço piloto Arte Contemporânea. Brasilia. Brazil.
2005 - 14º Salão de arte contemporânea de Anápolis. Museu de Artes Plásticas de Anápolis. Brazil.
2005 - 24º Salão de arte contemporânea de Jataí. Museu de arte contemporanea de Jataí. Brazil.
RESIDENCE
2022 - MONA x MCCL. Maison Mona et Maison de la culture Claude Léveillée. Montréal, Canada.
EXHIBITIONS AS CURATOR
2021 - Traversées. Cécile Comblen Solo exhibition. Galerie Antoine-Aimé Dorion. Canada.
2020 - Pop Pavillon - Performance and document: the trace of sentience. Pop Montréal et AEMAVM. Canada.
2020 - lanuitnoire. Nuit blanche. CDEx. UQAM. Montréal, Canada.
2015-2018 - Trajectoires (co-curator). Montreal Arts Council on tour. Canada.
PUBLICATIONS (selection)
2020 - Photographer’s companion Magazine. China.
2020 - Magazine of the Centre of Art and Research on Cultural Diversity. Montréal, Canada.
2017 - Magazine TicArtToc. Diversité artistique Montréal (DAM). Canada.
2017 - Catalog of the Pingyao International Photography Festival. China.
2012 - Profifoto - Photographers: network 2012. Germany.
AWARDS
2005 - 14º Salão de arte contemporânea de Anápolis. Museu de Artes Plásticas de Anápolis. Brazil.
2005 - 24º Salão de arte contemporânea de Jataí. Museu de arte contemporânea de Jataí. Brazil.
AUCTION
2013 - Musée des maîtres et artisans du Québec. Montréal, Canada.
COLLECTIONS
2023 - Acquisition. Laura Barcia private collection. Montreal.
2023 - Acquisition. Julie Graff private collection. Montreal.
2023 - Acquisition. Bruno Afonseca private collection. Vancouver, Canada.
2022 - Acquisition. Fernando Bueno private collection. Brasilia.
2022 - Exchange. Valéria Pena-Costa private collection. Brasilia.
2019 - Acquisition. Bruno Afonseca private collection. Vancouver.
2012 - Exchange. Thomas Kellner private collection. Siegen, Germany.
2009 - Exchange. Elder Rocha Lima Filho private collection. Brasilia.
2008 - Exchange. Carlos Sena and Divino Sobral private collection. Goiania.
2006 - Acquisition. Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection. MAM. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2006 - Donation. Gallery of the Faculty of Visual Arts. Federal University of Goiás. Goiania.
2005 - Acquisition Award. Museum of Plastic Arts of Anápolis.
EDUCATION
2022 - Certificate in Art and Science of digital animation. University Laval. Online. Montréal, Canada.
2022 - Master's degree in Visual and Digital Arts. University of Quebec in Montreal. Canada.
2013 - Master's degree in Museology. University of Montreal. Canada.
2011 - Certificate in French as Second Language. University of Montreal. Canada.
2004 - Bachelor’s in Visual Arts. Universidade Federal de Goiás. Goiania, Brazil.
FURTHER EDUCATION
2020 - Introduction to Unity (virtual reality software). Vidéographe. Montréal, Canada.
2015 - Exhibition Design and Curatorship. Node Center. Online. Berlin, Germany.
2013 - Training for Art Start-ups. Mon projet d’affaires. Montréal, Canada.
2002 - Photography. Canopus School of Photography. Goiania, Brazil.
SYMPOSIA / CONFERENCES / ACTIVITIES
2024 - Between university and school: Dialogues for anti-racist art and education. MASP School. Online. Brazil.
2021-2022 - Member of the Board of Directors of Ada X Gallery artists' center (Studio XX) - media arts. Montréal, Canada.
2021 - The Great Indoors: An Online Soundscapes Workshop. InterAccess. Online. Canada.
2021 - Student representative. Hexagram committee at University of Quebec in Montreal. Canada.
2021 - Portfolio Review. Ada X Artists' center. Participant. Montréal, Canada.
2021 - Memory Work: Conversation Between Aarati Akkapeddi and Zinnia Naqvi. Ada X Artists' center. Canada.
2021 - Forum - online students’ conference from UQAM's Master of Visual and Media Arts. Montréal, Canada.
2021 - Multi-platform bootcamp. TOPO - Digital Creation Center. Participant. Online. Montréal, Canada.
2020 - International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA). Online. Canada.
SCHOLARSHIPS
2021 - AEMAVM Graduates' Exhibition Scholarship. Canada.
2020 - Student Scholarship. Hexagram. Canada.
2017 - Mobility grant (Germany) awarded by LOJIQ. Canada.
2015 - Grant awarded by the démART-mtl program of the Montreal Arts Council (internship).
2012 - Mobility grant (Portugal) awarded by the International House of the UdM. Canada.
2011 - Scholarship awarded by the Master's program in Museology (UdM) due to the quality of the academic record. Canada.
WORKSHOPS/MEDIATION
2022 - Mediation workshops. MONA x MCCL. Maison Mona et Maison de la culture Claude Léveillée. Canada.
2017 - Cultural Mediator. Rosemont Petite-Patrie art and culture group. Montréal, Canada.
2016 - Workshop for the exhibition Trajectoires - CAM on tour. Montréal, Canada.
2015 - Embroidery on photography workshop. Montréal, Canada.
ACADEMIC WORK
2019-2021 - Research and teaching assistant (bachelor's and master's level).
Course: 1. The performative: from action art to the creation of situations / 2. Project creation workshop.
School of Visual and Media Arts, UQAM. Montréal, Canada. Professor Romeo Gongora.
2020 - Research and teaching assistant (bachelor's level).
Course: Intermedia: appropriation, intervention, dissemination.
School of Visual and Media Arts, UQAM. Montréal, Canada.Professor Paul Landon.