ELLIOT AND ERICK JIMENEZ: TWINS WITH A VISION
For the first time, twin brothers Elliot and Erick Jiménez step into a museum as an artistic duo, presenting a body of work that is both personal and deeply spiritual. Identical twins with identical passions, they work through photography to explore themes of memory, identity, and tradition, but with a profound layer of meaning rooted in their spiritual practice of Lucumí, a syncretic Afro-Caribbean religion born in late nineteenth-century Cuba. Emerging from the fusion of Yoruba, Catholicism, and Spiritism, Lucumí continues to shape lives across generations of the Cuban diaspora, and in the case of the Jiménez brothers, it has become both inspiration and guide.
Their exhibition, El Monte, draws its name from Lydia Cabrera’s groundbreaking text of 1954, a seminal book that catalogued the myths, rituals, and practices of Afro-Cuban religions. Just as Cabrera brought visibility to traditions often hidden from the public eye, Elliot and Erick bring forward their bicultural upbringing as Cuban Americans raised in the Lucumí tradition. Their photographs echo this layered identity: simultaneously contemporary and ancestral, personal and universal.
But what does it mean to present Lucumí today, especially in Miami, a city where the Cuban population has carried and redefined its traditions? In their work, the Jiménez brothers point toward the individuals and communities who keep these practices alive — elders, priests, and family figures who embody the transmission of sacred knowledge. Their art acknowledges these custodians while expanding the dialogue for younger generations navigating questions of faith, culture, and belonging.
Visually, the influence of Lucumí emerges not only in the symbolism but in the brothers’ vibrant use of color. Their images glow with spiritual resonance, echoing the palettes associated with the orishas—the deities of Yoruba belief—while also reflecting the brightness of their Miami environment. This blending of heritage and contemporary aesthetics reveals the lineage that runs through their art: a dialogue between Cuba and the United States, between devotion and experimentation.
El Monte runs until March 22, 2026, at PAMM, and is not only an exhibition of photography; it is a reflection of how cultural and spiritual inheritance can be reimagined through art. For Elliot and Erick Jiménez, to create is to honor a tradition while shaping its future—together, as brothers, as artists, and as storytellers of a bicultural world.
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