Digital work co-created by the Yawanawá people represents the Amazon rainforest

A digital artwork that responds in real time to data from the Amazon rainforest is part of a new collaboration between artist Refik Anadol and the Yawanawá indigenous community of the Brazilian Amazon. Called “ Winds of Yawanawá ,” the work is comprised of a central video and a collection of 1,000 ever-evolving NFT data paintings . The generative AI series was co-created with the Aldeia Sagrada and Nova Esperança communities, immersing viewers in a visual representation of one of Earth’s most vital ecosystems – the Amazon rainforest – while highlighting the importance of protecting it. Each data painting leverages weather data from the community’s village, including wind speed, gusts, direction and temperature, which is then blended with artwork by young Yawanawá sisters Nawashahu and Mukashahu, resulting in a mesmerizing interplay of traditional data pigment shapes and colors .

In support of the Yawanawá community, Refik Anadol and Impact One have decided to forgo their full share of the proceeds from the NFT sales, with all proceeds going to the indigenous organization Instituto Nixiwaka . The funds will support their long-term initiatives to protect Yawanawá lands and cultural heritage, including a historic convocation of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon that will be held at the Yawanawá Sacred Village in 2024. “I am part of the new generation that has witnessed the arrival of new technologies in our territories,” said Yawanawá chief Isku Kua when reflecting on the arrival of new technologies in the indigenous community. “We understand the need to adapt to these new instruments that you bring in order to adapt to this new reality. I no longer need to fight with my bow and arrow. I just need to speak the same language as you. Who would have thought that indigenous people from the middle of the forest living in such a traditional way would be launching a work of art today with artificial intelligence and all the technology that it involves? It does not make me and my people any less Yawanawá or any less indigenous. When I return home, I will be walking barefoot on the ground. I will continue playing in the river with my children and lighting my fire under the starry sky. But when I want to talk to you or my brothers, I will pick up my phone and talk to whoever I want and continue protecting my forests in the same way. But now speaking the same language as you.”