Elmer Castillo is a Cuban-American visual artist and author based in Miami. His practice explores migration, memory, identity and the limits of transformation, developing a visual language in which the spiral becomes a recurring metaphor for growth, containment and persistence.
Working across painting, installation and mixed media, Castillo incorporates organic and symbolic materials -including soil, plant fibers, roots, wood, resin and glass- to examine the relationship between personal memory and material culture.
Born in Cuba, Castillo has developed his artistic practice across Cuba, Spain and the United States. His work has been presented internationally, including a Collateral exhibition during the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026, and he has been selected as a participating artist for the Florence Biennale 2027.
Beginning with the endangered Cuban land snail Polymita picta, the project explores the spiral as a metaphor for growth, containment and the forces that shape our ability to transform.
EXPLORE PROJECT
Exploring migration through memory and material traces, the project looks at what people carry, leave behind and preserve as they move between places, histories and identities.
EXPLORE PROJECT
Tracing the cultural journey of Cuban tobacco through history, migration and the people who carried its rituals beyond the island.
EXPLORE PROJECT
The Spiral Cannot Expand
Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello · Venice, Italy
Presented in a Collateral Exhibition during the 61st Venice Biennale, The Spiral Cannot Expand brought together painting, sculpture, performance and publications, extending the project from material experimentation into the urban and cultural landscape of Venice.
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The Spiral Cannot Expand
Printed Book & Artist Book
Following the presentation of The Spiral Cannot Expand in Venice in 2026, both the printed edition and the artist book were incorporated into the ASAC Library of La Biennale di Venezia.
Inventory 0 169758 · Shelfmark OPUS A W 0000 5967
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XVI Florence Biennale
Fortezza da Basso · Florence, Italy
Selected as a participating artist for the XVI Florence Biennale, Castillo will continue the development of his ongoing research within the 2027 theme, Beyond the Sense of Time, exploring the intersections of memory, matter and the passage of time.
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