Refik Anadol and the Yawanawá Brazilian Indigenous Community Debut Digital Artwork Series in London

Starting 13 September, Winds of Yawanawa, a large-scale digital work co-created by trailblazing new media artist Refik Anadol and the Yawanawá, an indigenous people of Brazil, is on view at Annabel’s as part of the “Annabel’s For The Amazon” campaign. The artwork was curated and commissioned by Impact One to raise funds to safeguard the Yawanawá’s lands and cultural heritage, and has already generated more than $3,000,000 through the sale of NFTs based on the work, making it one of the highest valued and most successful NFT sales of 2023.

Known for his monumental digital installations created with the assistance of A.I. and generative algorithms, Anadol worked with the Yawanawá to connect their physical culture with virtual data to create the artwork series. Winds of Yawanawa harnesses real-time weather data sourced from the Yawanawá village of Aldeia Sagrada in the Brazilian state of Acre and draws inspiration from the artwork of the young Yawanawá artists Nawashahu and Mukashahu. The environmental weather data, including wind gusts and wind direction and the temperature, determines the movement of the artwork, immersing viewers in a visualisation of the Amazon and creating a mesmerising display of a variety of shapes and colours drawn from Nawashahu’s and Mukashahu’s work, making the series a living and evolving representation of the Yawanawá’s unique identity and the community’s deep-rooted connection to their Amazonian territory.

Among the prominent art collectors who acquired Winds of Yawanawa are Richard and Patricia Caring, Co-Founders of The Caring Family Foundation (TCFF), an organisation that combats deforestation in the Brazilian Amazonian rainforest through partnerships with local communities. With their purchase of Winds of Yawanawa, The Caring Family Foundation is extending its already significant engagement in the state of Acre, Brazil, as the Yawanawa community neighbours other communities supported by the ongoing work of the foundation. Richard and Patricia Caring also serve as Co-Chairs of The Birley Clubs, which includes the member’s club Annabel’s in London, which hosts the annual “Annabel’s for the Amazon.” This event supports awareness and fundraising to benefit local Amazonian communities and reforestation efforts. As part of this year’s campaign, Winds of Yawanawa is set to be displayed at Annabel’s in London’s Mayfair district from 13 September on.

“My wife Patricia and I are deeply engaged in the reforestation of the Brazilian Amazon through the crucial work of The Caring Family Foundation. The Amazon is the heart and lungs of the Earth, and we are proud to set the ambitious goal to plant two million trees by March 2024,” Richard Caring said. “The Yawanawá are stewards and protectors of the land, and we will continue to support their mission to preserve and restore the Amazon.”

On view at Annabel’s will be one of the three Winds of Yawanawa museum-quality Data Sculptures; an eight-minute-long piece that will immerse viewers into a fractalized rendition of Yawanawá cultural and natural heritage. Accompanying the Data Sculptures, the Winds of Yawanawa series also includes a collection of 1,000 unique NFT Data Paintings, derived from the three main Data Sculptures. The NFT Data Paintings were dropped in partnership with Scorpios as the Genesis collection of the newly created Yawanawá & Refik Anadol ledger, minted using a unique smart contract to highlight the collaboration with the community and provide transparent insight into the distribution of the proceeds from the NFT sales. 

“I’m deeply honored to have the opportunity to work closely with the Yawanawá to create artworks that are reflective of their rich cultural heritage and practices,” Anadol said. “We tapped into the natural environment to create works that will expose the precious beauty of the Amazon to a wider audience, and hope that they serve as a reminder to safeguard these sacred spaces for future generations.”

"At the peak of the digital age, this work reconnects to our natural heritage, sourcing its form and language from the Amazon rainforest, while raising funds for the Yawanawá and their stewardship of the rainforest, to give back. We are thrilled about Richard and Patricia’s support of ‘Winds of Yawanawa’ and the Possible Futures initiative, furthering the outstanding work The Caring Family Foundation is doing in the Amazon and the Brazilian State of Acre. The display of ‘Winds of Yawanawa’ at Annabel’s very much embodies the level of international engagement and collaboration that is needed for a nature-positive future,” said Impact One CEO Mikolaj Sekutowicz.

Under its initiative Possible Futures, Impact One is partnering with Instituto Nixiwaka, an organisation that represents the Yawanawá communities of Aldeia Sagrada and Nova Esperança in Acre, Brazil, and manages the operations of key development projects. These initiatives support the long-term wellbeing and protection of the Yawanawá people and land and preserve cultural heritage through the construction of nature-positive developments in Yawanawá lands.

“This partnership that we are building with Refik and Impact One is intended to bolster our communities, strengthening our people, our culture and our spirituality, and empowering us to defend and protect our forest,” Yawanawá Chief Nixiwaka said. “It also shows us that we are not alone and that we have allies around the world. This project can serve as a model for collaboration and relationship-building between Indigenous peoples and large companies and influential artists.”

Yawanawá Chief Isku Kua added: “It's through accessing new forms of knowledge that allows us to continue to live in the way that we always have. It brings us the freedom to continue living, to continue teaching our children to speak our language and live taking care of our forests, making schools for the children, making wells with clean water so they are not contaminated, making our agroforestry projects: our food forests, so that we can continue to feed the planet. [It] means, our freedom.” 

To post a comment, you must register and login.