Artist working at the intersection of ecology, social practice, and decolonial environmental systems.

Juan William Chávez (he/him), a 2012 Guggenheim Fellow, is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and beekeeper whose work transforms ecology into a shared social and ceremonial relationship through art. Working across social practice, public art, installation, agriculture, sound, and pedagogy, he creates long-term ecological and community-based projects that connect land stewardship, food sovereignty, environmental justice, and decolonial practice through collaborative cultural production.

Grounded in his Indigenous Latinx, Irish, and Peruvian heritage and his upbringing in St. Louis, Chávez draws on Andean philosophy and cosmology to understand ecology as a living system shaped by ritual, labor, migration, and reciprocal relationships to land. His practice integrates contemporary art, urban agriculture, pollinator stewardship, and public engagement to build spaces where ecological systems and community life are interdependent, extending art into public ecology and cultural infrastructure.

He has led major projects, including Bloomberg Philanthropies’ 2024–2026 Public Art Challenge, Art Pollination, and opened a Native Bee Sanctuary for the Counterpublic Triennial 2023 . His Survile Blanket installation has been presented at institutions including 601Artspace, NYC; El Museo del Barrio, NYC; and Artpace, San Antonio, TX. He is the founder of the art-and-ecology nonprofit, Northside Workshop. Chavez is a Senior Lecturer and the Wallace Herndon Smith Distinguished Visiting Artist at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.