The Gist
HAMPI (“medicine” in Quechua) is a multilingual, multimedia, autobiographical, and autoethnographic project chronicling a process of ancestral reconnection to the Andean cosmovision.
The ElementsConcocted between the United States, Ecuador, and Peru, the project’s various visual media capture the beauty of these heart homes. With bookends of a lunar calling and an earthly reminder, the project’s writing in English, Spanish, and Quechua features lessons from sacred guides, gone ancestors, and other loved ones on the journey to a fuller kind of bravery.
The Beginning: 2021-2023HAMPI was first developed as performance autoethnography with 2021-2022 fieldwork support from the Ohio University (Parry/Billman Fine Arts Award and scholarships) and the Beads on One String Foundation (Connection Grant).
The spiritual teachings behind the work were facilitated by Marilu Shinn and the Apaza Family at the Inca Medicine School. The Quechua-language teaching and editing was facilitated by Marta Ballesteros Holgado.
The Evolution: 2024-2026The first edition of the physical book was designed by Matt Austin and illustrated by Kiki Lechuga-Dupont, both at For the Birds Trapped in Airports (FTBTIA), the studio that published HAMPI in 2024.
The audiobook was produced as part of the New Media Fellowship with Jack Straw Cultural Center and published in 2025.
The special edition of the physical book—also designed, illustrated, and published by FTBTIA in 2026—featured a custom weaving designed and wound by Murat Ahmed, and woven by Hope Wang, both at LMRM.
Reimagined as an immersive experience, HAMPI will be exhibited in 2026 in Seattle at Jack Straw Cultural Center and in Orlando at the LGBT+ Center thanks to United Arts of Central Florida. A preview installation was showcased at the American Anthropological Association annual meeting in 2025.
The Recognition