When The Butterflies Would Visit
May 15 – June 13, 2026
Designed to empower the next generation of ecological researchers, this project seeks to nurture structural change. WHEN THE BUTTERFLIES WOULD VISIT brings together artists/activists/scientists around the environmental struggle in Guna Yala territory of Panama.
The excrement of fossil fuels and capitalism has washed up onto the shores and inside the bodies of the Indigenous Guna. In the summer 2022, on the ecological indigenous artist residency, we seeded this project to share knowledge and build new ways of working—ecological reciprocity.
Reciprocity, something western culture desperately needs to work on, is the social psychological practice of ecology. If we as westerners can shift from capitalistic colonial systems to indigenous practices of living in relationship to the living beings around us, humanity has hope. However, this knowledge is getting harder to keep and pass down—as western culture’s plastic/oil-addictions infiltrate and seep into these communities.
We are in partnership with Yar Burba, an indigenous ecological research center run by Favio and Desy Arosemena. In the words of founder/director Favio, “Yar Burba signifies the Guna people’s spiritual connection with nature. It is an expression of how we understand the world: humans, the jungle, the sea, animals, and spirits form a unity. Everything is alive, everything has energy.”
-Tavia La Follette (curator)
From Trash to Puppets: Street Puppet Building Workshop | May 30–31
Join Tavia La Follette for a two-day workshop where you will learn how to turn reclaimed materials into powerful imagery that moves your message through the community. Participants will explore a brief history of street puppetry and gain hands-on experience in up-cycling and scavenging free materials to create large-scale puppets and expressive masks for street performance.
RSVP required (limited space) | RSVP & Info
