Luisiana Mera (b. 1994, Panama), lives and works in New York, NY.

As a figurative artist, I am fascinated by capturing fleeting moments. Memories from my childhood in Panama and portraits of friends are grounds to explore the ephemerality that permeates everyday life. A birthday cake, a cartoon, a subtle gesture—subjects that feel impermanent are transformed by the labor of rendering them realistically. My subject matter changes but I always work in series, following an idea to its end. Sometimes I will spend days depicting a single moment that felt unimportant as it passed, trying to savor the tension in memorializing its nature of unrepeatability. I am guided by the hope that this tension will layer itself into my compositions, which are dedicated to the transience of youth, beauty, and the contours of memory.

-- Luisi Mera

Luisi Mera received her MFA in Painting from the New York Academy of Art, where she was awarded the Leipzig Summer Residency in Leipzig, Germany and Cuttyhunk Island Residency In Cuttyhunk, Massachusetts. Her work has been exhibited in Panama, Spain, Germany and various states in the United States. Her work is part of important private art collections and museum collections.

Luisi Mera has an upcoming solo exhibition with Stems Gallery, Paris in November 2023.