AWA
AWA is a cultural project founded by Patsy Craig based in the ancient capital of Cusco in the Peruvian Andes. One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the Americas, Cusco (or Qosqo in Quechua) was conceived as the belly button of the world. From this vantage point, our work focuses on ecology, indigeneity, and decolonisation. Through research, art, design, and education we provide unique access to cultural traditions that acknowledge, enrich and perpetuate sustainability and biodiversity as the means to ensure mutual flourishing. Today, such traditions are calling out to be seen, understood and honoured.
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AWA's long-term goal is to work as a bridge within a wide array of Indigenous communities throughout the Americas to share Indigenous world views and assist in empowering indigenous leadership. Our efforts began in the Peruvian Amazon, a central focus of the most consequential geopolitical and environmental concerns of our time; a vast, rugged, beautifully diverse expanse that is integral to the Earth System’s ecological well-being yet has been continuously invaded by numerous resource exploitation interests lacking in sustainable administrative policies. Within this setting the region’s original custodians are under threat despite significant scientific research affirming that Indigenous environmental stewardship perpetuates biodiversity which ensures inter species flourishing. Although this is beneficial to us all, it remains a struggle for Indigenous peoples there to uphold their rights, maintain their cultural traditions, and preserve their ancestral knowledge and lands. We have since expanded our focus to the Andean regions as well.
Ultimately our projects intend to draw attention to and contribute towards providing solutions for issues of environmental justice. At this point in time when our civilisation is faced with the devastating all-encompassing effects of a human caused climate crisis, we believe that sharing Indigenous worldviews and empowering the leadership of indigenous peoples as stewards and protectors of the earth is crucial to achieving a climate stable future for us all. In this light, we invite you to explore the efforts of AWA and to admire and receive the blessings of these inspired works of art.
Director: Patsy Craig
Patsy Craig is an artist/designer, curator/producer, author/editor/translator, and Indigenous rights advocate with Peruvian, American, and British roots. She has a background in fine arts and cultural studies, having received a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in the USA and an MRES from Birkbeck College, University of London in the UK. For more than 20 years Patsy has been cultivating cross-cultural collaborations throughout Europe, India, USA, and Peru focusing on the intersections of art, music, architecture, urbanism, ecology and Indigeneity. This has included publications, exhibitions, concerts, conferences, workshops, designed installations, etc.
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Patsy has received grants for her work from Arts Council England (UK), Cultures France/ Institut Francais (FR), Goethe Institut (DE), Graham Foundation (USA), the Ministry of Culture (PE), etc. Notably, she published "Making Art Work" (Trolley, UK), a book exploring the relationship between ideas and making that later became an exhibition at the Architectural Association (AA) in London; and with the support from the Graham Foundation she authored a book based on her research in Chandigarh, India about the impact of European modernist design on traditional Indian culture.
Since 2016, Patsy has focused her attention on issues pertaining to ecology and Indigeneity as a result of her experience with the indigenous-led environmental movement at Standing Rock, North Dakota (USA). Inspired to learn more about Native American culture, in 2017 she received support from the Goethe Institut to research in this regard. In 2018, she collaborated with University College London (UK) to develop "The Flourishing Diversity", a project that provides platforms from which to amplify indigenous world views.
In 2019 Patsy founded AWA in Cusco, Peru, a cultural project highlighting contemporary art at the intersection of ecology, Indigeneity, and decolonisation providing unique access to land based cultural traditions that recognize and perpetuate sustainability and biodiversity as the means to ensure mutual flourishing.
Since its founding AWA has produced and curated exhibitions in the UK, Peru and the USA. This has included "The Invisible Forest" at Gallery 46 in London in June 2019, an exhibition that made visible a singular relationship with the natural world through works by renown indigenous Amazonian artists. In October 2019 "The Invisible Forest" was presented in the San Francisco Bay Area at the Bioneers Conference and at Dharma College in Berkeley, California. In 2021, Patsy curated "The Sacred Forest" presented at Dharma College in Berkeley and @ Bioneers online https://bioneers.org/interview-patsy-craig/.
Patsy has a long standing relationship with the Bioneers conference where she is invited each year to present the work of AWA. https://bioneers.org/an-interview-with-patsy-craig-founder-of-awa/
In 2022 she presented an exhibition of artworks by the Etochime Artist Collective of the Harakbut peoples from the Madre de Dios Region of the Southern Peruvian Amazon; in April 2023 Patsy presented "Los Nadies" an installation of street art by an art collective from Oaxaca, Mexico known as Los Subterraneos at the David Brower Center in Berkeley; and in 2025 introduced the work of Indigenous Brasilian fashion designer Sioduhi to great acclaim.
Other AWA exhibitions include "MINE: What is Ours in the Wake of Extraction" which Patsy initiated in 2022, highlighting issues surrounding the social and environmental impact of extraction featuring works by the Etochime Artist Collective alongside works by San Francisco Art Institute alumni in San Francisco, California. MINE in varied formats is currently touring university contexts in the USA, including Wake Forest University, North Carolina in 2023, University of Delaware in 2024-2025, and is scheduled for Western Colorado University in fall 2025.
In 2023 Patsy was selected as a beneficiary of the “Art Projects for Social Transformation and Innovation” competition of the Ministry of Culture (PE) for the Cusco region. Patsy continues to work with various Indigenous cultures of the Americas developing projects that raise awareness of issues surrounding environmental justice. Apart from exhibitions, AWA also curates and produces talks/seminars, concerts, publications, educational workshops, and design installations. Stay tuned for upcoming projects and events!
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