Luana Lorena is a researcher and archive manager. She holds a degree in Visual Arts from the University of São Paulo — ECA-USP — and is currently pursuing a graduate specialization in Museology, Culture, and Education at PUC-SP. Her current research focuses on policies of restitution, return, and repatriation of Brazilian cultural heritage, connecting these debates to the field of the right to memory.

​

Her work is centered on the management, research, preservation, and dissemination of cultural, historical, and artistic archives and collections, with a particular emphasis on photography. She currently manages the archive of artist Eustáquio Neves, leading processes of organization, preventive conservation, cataloging, and project development related to the safeguarding and circulation of his work. She also works with the archive of photojournalist Victor Moriyama, focusing on digital preservation, records management, workflow organization, and strategic consulting for the use and circulation of images. In parallel, she provides consulting services for the archive of Lenise Pinheiro, a central figure in Brazilian stage photography, working on institutional dialogue, partnership development, and the strengthening of preservation and dissemination strategies. Among her recent projects is her participation in the research, organization, cataloging, and public access development of the Black Labor Memory Collection, a project developed by artist Guilherme Bretas.

​

In the academic field, her trajectory is shaped by an interest in the relationships between memory, visual culture, and heritage. During her undergraduate studies in Visual Arts at ECA-USP, she focused on historical photographic processes and on the investigation of photography as mnemonic material. This research unfolded into her artistic and documentary production, especially the photobook Canção à poeira (Song to the dust), which was selected for several festivals and became the subject of a critical essay published in Revista ZUM.

​

As part of her complementary training, she has completed courses in image studies, archival studies, heritage education, conservation, and museum processes at institutions such as Instituto Moreira Salles, the National Archives of Brazil, IBRAM, IPHAN, and FIOCRUZ.

​

Her work understands memory as a field of dispute, care, and critical elaboration, seeking to build bridges between narratives of the past and perspectives for the future.