Leonardo Finotti and Michelle Jean de Castro (LAMA.SP)
São Paulo, Brazil and Stockholm, Sweden
Leonardo Finotti is a visual artist based in São Paulo, Brazil, whose work centers on two complementary themes: modern architecture and anonymous or informal urban spaces. Trained as an architect, he holds a bachelor of arts in architecture from the Universidade Federal de Uberlândia; completed postgraduate studies at the Bauhaus Foundation in Dessau, Germany; and began his career in Portugal before returning to Brazil to embark on a long-term photographic project that revisits and reinterprets the legacy of modern architecture across Latin America and beyond. Alongside collaborations with international architects, institutions, and publications, Finotti has produced a number of independent projects through exhibitions and books, including Pelada (2014); Latinitudes (2015); Rio Enquadrado (2016); A Collection of Latin American Modern Architecture (Lars Müller, 2016); and Sacred Groves & Secret Parks (2019). His work has been widely exhibited and is held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; Bündner Kunstmuseum Chur (Switzerland); Fundação EDP (Portugal); Architekturzentrum Wien (Austria); Bauhaus Dessau Foundation (Germany); and Museu Brasileiro da Escultura e Ecologia (Brazil), among others. He has represented Brazil at two International Architecture Exhibitions, La Biennale di Venezia; the 10th Mercosul Art Biennial, Porto Alegre, Brazil; and was a prizewinner at the 15th Buenos Aires International Biennial of Architecture.
Michelle Jean de Castro is an architect and curator based in Stockholm. Her work is centered on the concept of haunting—when something previously hidden or overlooked comes into view — tracing the spatial and material dimensions of memory, absence, and displacement. Current projects include Sacred Groves & Secret Parks: Orisha Landscapes in Brazil and West Africa, developed under the guidance of the Hutchins Center, which examines the materiality and spatiality of Afro-religious diasporic practices; What is Not Forest is Ruination; and Ghostly Matters.
LAMA.SP (Latin American Modern Architecture, São Paulo) is an artist-run space founded by Michelle Jean de Castro and Leonardo Finotti.
Previous work
Project Overview
Venue
View moreGraham Foundation
Address
4 W. Burton Pl., Chicago, IL 60610
Neighborhood
Gold Coast
Description
Founded in 1956, the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts fosters the development and exchange of diverse and challenging ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society. The Graham realizes this vision through making project-based grants to individuals and organizations and producing exhibitions, events, and publications.







