The

Artist Collective

  • Kinship exists to meet this moment by bringing people together and using art to subtly and profoundly shift culture—awakening a deeper sense of belonging, care, and responsibility to one another and to the more-than-human world we share.

The Kinship Artist Collective nurtures a global conversation about belonging, care, and ecological interconnection by bringing together artists whose work is rooted in migration, memory, and shared landscapes across borders.

Through intimate, place-based projects, the collective demonstrates how art can soften hardened lines, deepen empathy, and inspire stewardship for the more-than-human world.

As funding allows, we will welcome up to six artists into the Collective in 2026, offering microgrants to support works that reveal our shared belonging within the web of life and gently disrupt narratives of difference and false boundaries.

Artist Collective?

What is the

Immigration & Ecology

Given the deep cultural, ecological, and migratory ties between South and North America we propose a cohort of artists focused on the biodiversity that connect the countries across the borderlands and in some cases, the entirety of the Americas.

This work is inspired by the people and species who share these lands and waters — by salmon that return upriver, monarchs that travel thousands of miles, families who carry stories across generations and geographies. There is both an emotional and ecological propensity to move, to seek sustenance, safety, and belonging. And yet, increasingly, we are closing these migratory lanes — through scarcity, fear, xenophobia, and the hardening of policy and imagination alike.

The artists will explore what is lost when movement is constrained, and what becomes possible when we remember that we are part of a vast, interwoven migration story.

We’re therefore presenting two ideas we would love to pursue — either in tandem or on their own.

“What if we get this right?”

-Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

Our program ideas

Mexico and the United States

Given the deep cultural, ecological, and migratory ties between Mexico and the U.S., we propose a cohort of four artists—two from each country—focused on the biodiversity that connect two countries across the borderlands and in some cases, the entirety of the North American continent.

Rather than centering the border solely as a site of division, this approach highlights the continuity, vibrancy, and changing dynamics of the ecosystems and lives that shape and are shaped by these places.

Artists explore what it means to belong to a place that is inherently relational and increasingly under pressure, offering a powerful ecological and cultural counter-narrative to hardened borders and hearts.

Landscapes of belonging

across the Americas

This project would support three emerging U.S.-based artists whose work centers immigrant experiences through relationships to land. These artists will explore questions such as: What landscapes did they leave behind that they loved? What smells, sounds, plants, or seasons remain in memory? And where—if at all—have they found new forms of attachment and care in the places they now call home?

At its core, this project recognizes that culture and social mores shape how we relate to the web of life. Immigrants carry ecological memory even as they are reshaped by the climates and norms of their new homes.

This work honors both grief and gratitude: the ache of leaving one place behind and the creative act of making home elsewhere. In doing so, it seeks to shift cultural stories toward deeper connection, reminding us that belonging is something we practice with one another and with the earth itself.

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What we’re hearing…

  • Thank you for curating such a sacred space. This is not just a fellowship, it an answer to the questions I could not answer for long time. I carry it in my spirit and work forward with renewed clarity.

    Macdonald Khozomba (Malawi)

  • I’m truly grateful for the care, intention, and thoughtfulness behind this Fellowship. It’s more than a learning space—it’s a community that inspires growth, empathy, and courage. Your work is planting seeds of change that will continue to grow beyond these sessions.

    Zabihullah Rahmani (Afghanistan)

  • I was deeply moved by the radical tenderness and vulnerability shared in the sessions. It surprised me how quickly a sense of trust and connection emerged across distances, and how much strength there is in pausing together to grieve, imagine, and dream beyond our current realities.

    Laura Zarta (Colombia)

  • Deep awe for the wisdom shared, grief for what’s been lost, and moments of peace in feeling seen and connected. At times, discomfort arises when touching painful truths, but it is softened by hope and the collective strength of this healing journey.

    Kwabena Gyapong (Ghana)

Fellowship Projects Around the Globe

  • Green Memory Project: storytelling, art, culture and nature connection

    Zabihullah (Afghanistan)

  • Manguo Wetlands: Restoring ecological and ancestral knowledge systems

    Tex (Kenya)

  • Diwa’t Dalamhati: restoring kinship between nature and people

    Bricx (Philippines)

  • 'চর ও প্রকৃতি' (Char and Nature): reconnecting children with their local ecosystems

    Shanjida (Bangladesh)

  • Seeds of Connection: a collaborative nature-based board game

    Aurora (Mexico)

  • Evening Fire time Awakening: ancestral traditions & storytelling inspires community-led conservation

    Macdonald (Malawi)

  • Listening to the Mountain and the Sea: sound and visual earth-based healing

    Laura (Brazil)

  • Voices of the Land: reviving ecological memory through story and ritual

    Kwabena (Ghana)

  • Eddagala ly'obutonde: revitalizing and preserving traditional knowledge of herbal medicine

    Derrick (Uganda)

  • Alas, raíces y memoria: youth, art, endangered birds and earth-based wisdom

    Mar (Ecuador)

  • Land that moves: connection with nature in urban areas

    Milosz (UK)

  • Reweaving Stories of Land and Life: elders, women, and youth share ancestral ecological stories, create art, and plant trees

    Ismael (Kenya)

  • Voices of the Land: unites elders and youth to preserve oral traditions and inspire land stewardship

    Dawit (Ethiopia)

  • Back to my roots (Pomar nativo em Atibaia): Planting and protecting native species

    Marina (Brazil)

Constellations of Change

Learning and Impact of the 2025 Fellowship Program