Luana Vitra: The beads of my rosary are artillery bullets

Since the beginning of her artistic career, Luana Vitra has dedicated herself to understanding the mineral realm. Drawing from the geography of the Brazilian mining region of Minas Gerais, where she comes from, Luana feels deep kinship with matter that makes up the ground of the earth.

Recently, her interest in the physical, chemical and spiritual aspirations of matter led her to pursue a six-month long self-directed residency in eThekwini (Durban), South Africa. In this region, popularly known as the Kingdom of the Zulus, she immersed herself in learning traditional wire weaving and beading techniques typical to the area. Luana’s interest in these two techniques is connected to her understanding of stitch, line and repetition as the cradle of spirituality.

For her solo presentation at Kunstinstituut Melly, Luana reflects on the relationship between manual work and prayer. She grew up observing the hands of prayers traversing the beads of the rosary, repeating the same prayer over and over again. In her perception, spirituality is also a journey that the hands make over the beads, as if these points were leading the body into the invisible, fostering protection and a sense of purpose. This aspect transcends various cultures, connecting to the energetic properties of different metals and the patterns formed by beads and metals through history.

Inspired by complex geometric forms and patterns connected to the spiritual abilities used as communicative objects to express affection, such as Zulu love letters, Luana transformed these shapes to her own understanding of the spiritual world. The arrows and spears are elements that create the vectors of the energies present in the works, and within the mythology of the Orixás these instruments are related with the hunt, the forest, abundance, war and the energy of metals. Her installations are made with a wide variety of materials that raise political questions linked to the ongoing spiritual and historical warfare perpetuated in Brazil and other countries.

Luana Vitra was selected by the Commissioning Committee of the Hartwig Art Production | Collection Fund to research and learn new techniques in order to produce a new work to be included in the collection. The piece will subsequently be donated to the Dutch state, becoming an integral part of the national art collection (‘Rijkscollectie’), available for institutions in the Netherlands and abroad.

First Double 1 & 2

Luana's exhibition is part of the series First Double 1 & 2, which takes its title from a collaborative album by South African musicians Madala Kunene, Baba Mokoena, and Sibusiso Mndaweni. The album’s lyrics connect seemingly unrelated activities—such as a mother going to the marketplace, a father attending a racecourse, and anti-colonial resistance chants—to reflect deeper connections between everyday life and broader socio-political themes. Similarly, the five solo exhibitions in First Double 1 & 2 explore diverse yet interconnected topics, including spiritual technologies, mineral extraction, land-related issues, queer cosmologies, and the recollection of historical events. Also included within the series are solo exhibitions by Cihad Caner, Jabu Arnell, Nolan Oswald Dennis, and Sara Sejin Chang (Sara van der Heide).