Rosa Luna is a site-specific project conceived by Brazilian artist Mônica Ventura (São Paulo, 1985) for Fundación Cervieri Monsuárez. Taking as its point of departure the figure of Rosa Amelia Luna (Montevideo, 1937–Toronto, 1993), an iconic performer of Uruguayan Carnival and a leading figure in Afro-Uruguayan culture, the exhibition reflects on memory, resistance, and the role of Black women in shaping Uruguay’s cultural identity.
The exhibition stems from research Ventura conducted during her visits to Uruguay on the history of the African diaspora, the conventillo Medio Mundo, and the ways Afro-descendant communities have preserved their knowledge across generations. Through this investigation, Rosa Luna emerges as a symbol of belonging, continuity, and endurance.
Drawing on this research, Ventura transforms materials associated with vernacular architecture—such as brick, clay, and modular building systems—into sculptural forms. In dialogue with the ideas of engineer Eladio Dieste, she develops a visual language that connects body and architecture, materiality and memory. These installations, which the artist refers to as “body-architectures,” reimagine construction as an act of care, spirituality, and cultural transmission.
The pillars that structure the exhibition represent women who sustain communities, histories, and ways of life. Resting atop them are gourds crafted from different materials, an element found in various Afro-Indigenous cosmologies that appears here as a vessel of life, memory, and ancestral knowledge.
The exhibition also includes a video installation created in collaboration with Hermosa Intervención, an Afro-Uruguayan collective of women and Afro-Indigenous dissidents, featuring singer, activist, and Afro-Uruguayan leader Chabela Ramírez. Conceived as a space of encounter between the artist and the local Afro community, the work brings together song, dance, and collective creation to activate shared memories and foster a dialogue between the experiences of the Afro diasporas in Brazil and Uruguay.