Everything is White
by Luciano Luz
New Media Room: 20.11.25 - 15.01.26
Everything is White, a video work by a Brazilian artist Luciano Luz, was specially developed for AVA’s 2025 exhibition programme. It originated as an experimental video project created entirely from found footage and audio recordings captured from a computer screen.
The work merges visual and auditory elements, such as the prominent use of drums, to establish a sensitive and cathartic experience centred on healing and listening.
The video focuses on the construction of social, political, and economic narratives to address the systemic issues of racism, racial segregation, violence, oppression, armed struggle, and white supremacy faced by Black people, primarily across Brazil, the African continent, and the United States. The title of the work, "Everything is White,” references a 1971 interview in which Muhammad Ali recalls his mother’s explanation for the lack of Black representation in the United States.
The video situates the present and future by moving between birth and death, the material and spiritual world, urging a consideration of African ancestry. Despite the majority of Brazilians having African origins, the artists notes how many have lost direct contact with their ancestry while simultaneously continuing to evoke their orixás and praise the forces of nature.
The work highlights Capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian cultural manifestation that blends elements of dance, martial arts, music, games, and religiosity. The emergence of this expression was led by the enslaved people, who were brought from Africa to Brazil to work in sugar cane mills, coffee farms, fields, or in the masters' homes. Capoeira became a critical form of struggle, resistance against oppression, and a vehicle to preserve cultural identity. The inclusion of Capoeira footage signals the possibility of rescuing an African identity, one that is continuously fragmented by legacies of colonialism and slavery and continues to be under threat from the western cultural hegemonies.
Pop culture icons featured in the video are used to highlight the destruction of national identity in favour of the adoption of an Americanized lifestyle. Through the use of dominant colours and screenprint halftone, these icons reference Andy Warhol's work, to mirror criticisms of consumer society and mass production in the work.
The work also utilises footage of key political and cultural figures from a global diaspora, including Brazilian football legend Pelé, American boxer Muhammad Ali, South African leader Nelson Mandela, and US civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. The video incorporates a diverse soundscape featuring samples from popular culture, such as the 1971 Coca-Cola commercial and songs by Nina Simone and Elza Soares, alongside various African and Brazilian drumming traditions. Visually, the piece draws on significant moments in history, including Muhammad Ali's conversation about racial integration, a portion of Victoria Santa Cruz's poem "Me Gritaron Negra," and Nelson Mandela's 1990 post-release speech.
The work shows the constant struggle for survival of black people and the persecution suffered in the search for freedom, justice and equality.
Luciano Luz (b. 1982, Brazil) is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist. His training includes a degree in psychology and a specialization in Advanced Studies in Transpersonal Psychology. His artistic research explores social, political, psychological, philosophical, and existential issues, always addressing themes present in our society, such as violence, resistance, joy, death, and spirituality, themes that reflect our way of living.
His practice encompasses photography, video, object, and collage, among others. He works with a range of materials such as bones, found objects, papers, etc.
Some of his main projects include the Virtual Studio Workshop - a Virtual project carried out in 2020, through the Arts Council for Teenagers at the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) in the USA, Workshop Self-knowledge Through the Process of Artistic Creation 2023, held at ASCAI (Association for the Support of the Elderly) in South Brazil, among others.
He held solo exhibitions, including Memórias Vivas (2013) and Society (2015), both at Santa Maria Art Museum (MASM) and The Light That Moves You (2020) at Lanceiros do Sul Museum. He also participated in group exhibitions at XIV Salão Latino Americano de Artes Plásticas (2016) and XV Salão Latino Americano de Artes Plásticas (2017) at Santa Maria Art Museum (MASM), SESC Arts Biennal (2018), NAIFs Biennial of Brazil (2018), and at the 15th Great Bunkyo Art Exhibition (2023).
He was awarded at the XV Salão Latino Americano de Artes Plásticas in 2017, received an honorable mention at the SESC Arts Biennial, Brasília - DF in 2018, and his video "Walking and Singing " was awarded at Festival Permanente do Minuto in 2023.
His works are part of the institutional collection of the Santa Maria Art Museum (MASM) and the Casa Cultural Juarez Teixeira), both in Brazil. He currently lives and works in South Brazil.