Wiñaymuyu - Seeds That Grow

Wiñaymuyu—meaning Seeds That Grow—is rooted in the understanding that art is lived every day in Kichwa communities through weaving, embroidery, music, storytelling, and collective care.

This project creates a space where Kichwa youth can explore these practices alongside contemporary art forms such as drawing, painting, collage, and mixed media. Through individual and collaborative workshops, participants are invited to express their identities, emotions, and dreams while strengthening their relationship to land, community, and culture.

Co-created with families, elders, artists, and local leaders, Wiñaymuyu centers Indigenous knowledge systems and amplifies local voices throughout the entire process.

• Cultural Survival Indigenous Youth Fellowship–supported project

• 10–12 week art workshop series

• Kichwa youth (ages 10+) in Uyancha, Imbabura

• Led by Indigenous artists, elders, and community leaders

• Culminated in a permanent community mural

In Kichwa communities, many profound art forms—such as woven belts, embroidery, community music, and storytelling—are often undervalued despite being central to cultural continuity.

Wiñaymuyu responds by creating a culturally grounded space where youth can reconnect with these practices, build emotional awareness, and feel pride in who they are. The project addresses cultural disconnection by affirming Indigenous art as living knowledge that belongs in both the present and the future.

Wiñaymuyu was designed as more than a one-time initiative. By involving local artists, elders, and organizers throughout the process, the project builds community capacity to continue similar workshops in the future.

The long-term vision is for Wiñaymuyu to serve as a replicable model that other Kichwa communities can adapt, supporting youth leadership, cultural preservation, and intergenerational exchange across territories.

Adina Farinango is a Kichwa Otavalo artist based in Lenapehoking (New York City). Her practice uses art as an act of resistance, healing, and self-expression, navigating and strengthening Indigenous identity within the Kichwa diaspora. Deeply influenced by the resilience and strength of Kichwa matriarchs—past, present, and future—her work centers the reclamation of space through a matriarchal lens.

Working across digital illustration, photography, embroidery, animation, and mixed media, Adina’s art is grounded in personal, ancestral, and collective memory. Her practice opens dialogue with ancestors across time while exploring what it means to carry home, culture, and identity across generations. Rooted in love and responsibility to community, her work celebrates Kichwa Futurisms—honoring Indigenous resilience while imagining vibrant, self-determined futures.

Adina is a Cultural Survival Indigenous Youth Fellow and has collaborated with Indigenous communities, organizations, and institutions including Kichwa Hatari, Brown University, NYU, Apple, Instagram, Bronx Arts, Photoville Festival, NYCDOT Art Beautification Program, and Indigenous Climate Action. Her work has been featured in exhibitions, public art initiatives, and cultural programs.