Arawaks del Clan del Águila
Art and culture are central to the continuity of Lokono Arawak identity and knowledge. Through visual art, storytelling, illustration, performance, and creative research, members of the Eagle Clan engage cultural expression as a living practice rooted in land, language, kinship, and responsibility. These works serve not only as artistic expression, but also as vessels for intergenerational teaching, healing, and Indigenous presence in contemporary spaces.
Foster Simon
Foster Simon is a Lokono Arawak sculptor and cultural knowledge holder whose work is deeply grounded in ancestral memory, land based knowledge, and Indigenous cosmology. Born in St. Cuthbert’s Mission, Guyana, he was raised within a large, culturally rooted family where oral history, language, and community responsibility were central to everyday life. His grandparents played an important role in ensuring that he understood the history of the Lokono people and maintained pride in the Arawak language and cultural identity.
From an early age, Foster demonstrated a natural ability and inclination toward working with his hands. This early relationship with material and form later developed into a dedicated artistic practice. Although he explored painting, sculptural work ultimately became his primary medium, allowing him to translate cultural narratives, spiritual understandings, and relationships with the natural world into tangible form.
Foster pursued formal artistic training at the Burrowes School of Art in Georgetown, Guyana, where his practice was further shaped through exposure to classical and contemporary approaches to art making. During this period, he was influenced and encouraged by established Indigenous artists, including George Simon, whose mentorship supported the development of Foster’s distinctive sculptural voice.
His carvings are widely recognized for their intricate detail and symbolic depth. Drawing inspiration from Lokono ancestral teachings, the forests and rivers of his homeland, the animals and spirits of the natural world, and the myths and legends passed down through generations, Foster’s work reflects a living relationship between culture, environment, and memory. His sculptures do not function as static representations of tradition, but as active expressions of Indigenous worldview and continuity.
Foster Simon is a recognized member of the Lokono Artist Movement and holds a unique place in Indigenous Caribbean art history as the first and only Lokono artist to have his works exhibited through United Nations platforms. In 2008, three of his wood sculptures were featured in the exhibition Spirit of Our Ancestors, launched in conjunction with the Seventh Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. The exhibition was presented at United Nations Headquarters in New York City and brought international attention to Indigenous Caribbean survival, artistic expression, and cultural resilience. Related visibility and recognition of this work also extended through United Nations and Indigenous cultural platforms connected to Geneva.
The exhibition positioned Foster’s work alongside that of contemporary Indigenous artists from across the Caribbean and the Americas, emphasizing shared histories of survival, resistance, and cultural continuity. The accompanying explanatory texts offered international audiences insight into Indigenous worldviews and the enduring presence of Indigenous peoples in the Caribbean region.
Beyond the United Nations exhibitions, Foster Simon’s sculptures are held in significant institutional and governmental collections. His work forms part of the Presidential collections of Guyana, Venezuela, and Bolivia, reflecting recognition of his artistic and cultural contributions at national and international levels. He also produced a mini totem pole to commemorate Guyana’s 50th Independence anniversary, marking an important moment in the public acknowledgment of Indigenous artistry within national celebrations.
In addition to his sculptural work, Foster is a bearer of oral history and cultural knowledge. Through storytelling and shared reflection, he continues to pass on teachings related to Lokono history, land relationships, and cultural values. His role as an artist is inseparable from his responsibility as a cultural knowledge holder, ensuring that Indigenous memory and worldview are carried forward for future generations.
Oral History and Cultural Knowledge
In the recorded video below, Foster Simon shares oral history, personal reflections, and cultural teachings rooted in Lokono Arawak tradition. His words provide important context to his artistic practice and offer insight into the relationships between land, ancestry, and cultural continuity.
Christiano Simon
We honour the life and work of Christiano Simon, a Lokono-Arawak youth artist from Pakuri Territory in Region 4, Guyana, whose artistic practice was deeply rooted in Indigenous identity, culture, and story.
Christiano’s work reflects the power of art as a form of cultural continuity, expression, and Indigenous presence. Although his life was far too short, his creative legacy continues to live on through his artwork and within our community.
We share some of Christiano’s work below in remembrance and gratitude.
Sabantho Aderi
Many Forms, One Life - A Visual Series
Many Forms, One Life. She Is Not a Threat. She Belongs. This series consists of digital artworks using charcoal-based textures to evoke tactility and depth. Through feminine figures embodied as Amazonian beings, Sabantho engage Indigenous cosmological frameworks in which animals are understood as relatives, teachers, and protectors. These figures resist singular definitions of womanhood and strength, allowing multiple forms of power to exist without hierarchy or explanation.
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First Nations Productions
Indigenous Film, Storytelling, and Cultural Sovereignty
First Nations Productions was officially launched on November 12, 2021, as a joint initiative of First Nations Productions and the Eagle Clan Lokono Arawaks. The company was established to serve as a foundation for a 100 percent Indigenous owned and operated grassroots Caribbean Indigenous film industry.
The purpose of First Nations Productions is to create film and television works that are authored, performed, and shaped by Indigenous Caribbean peoples themselves. This includes Indigenous control over storytelling, casting, language, production, and cultural interpretation. These projects are rooted in lived Indigenous experience rather than external observation.
Indigenous Authorship and Language
First Nations Productions was created in response to the long standing absence of Indigenous authored narratives within Caribbean film and media. Historically, Indigenous Caribbean peoples have often been portrayed as relics of the past or as abstract symbols, while their contemporary voices, histories, and realities remain largely unheard.
All productions prioritize Indigenous participation at every level. Actors are members of the Indigenous communities being portrayed. Dialogue is presented entirely or partially in the Lokono Arawak language, with English and Spanish subtitles provided by the producers. This approach affirms Indigenous language as a living medium and restores it to public and cultural space.
The Last Arawak Girl Born in Barbados
The first completed made for television documentary film by First Nations Productions is The Last Arawak Girl Born in Barbados, a seventeenth century historical narrative.
This production holds several historic distinctions. It is the first made for television documentary film by the company and the first film ever completed entirely in the Lokono Arawak language. The project presents a purely Indigenous perspective on the experience of European colonization in the Caribbean, expressed through Indigenous voice, memory, and worldview.
The film challenges the widespread assumption that Caribbean Indigenous peoples no longer exist or belong only to the distant past. By centering Indigenous presence, language, and humanity, the documentary restores dignity and visibility to stories that have long been excluded from dominant historical narratives.
Guama, the Last Great Taíno Chief of Cuba
The second completed documentary film, Guama, the Last Great Taíno Chief of Cuba, was completed in November 2022 and officially released on January 28, 2023.
The Cuban government confirmed that this production is the first film ever made about the historic Taíno leader Guama, who resisted Spanish colonization in Cuba. The film represents another landmark in Indigenous Caribbean filmmaking, documenting resistance, leadership, and survival from an Indigenous perspective.
Film as Cultural and Social Intervention
These film projects are not created solely as entertainment. They are intended to function as tools for cultural awareness, education, and social healing. By restoring Indigenous voices to the historical record, the films contribute to broader processes of consciousness raising, intercultural understanding, and long overdue reconciliation.
Meaningful multicultural integration cannot occur without recognition of Indigenous peoples as the foundational thread of Caribbean societies. These films seek to affirm that recognition by presenting Indigenous histories and identities with accuracy, respect, and authority.
Ongoing and Upcoming Projects
First Nations Productions is currently developing additional film and television projects, including documentary works on major Indigenous Caribbean leaders and historical figures. These include projects centered on the great Kalinago Chief Warner of Dominica, as well as original narrative concepts inspired by Indigenous resistance and justice traditions.
Teasers are also in development for a made for television Indigenous rights action series inspired by the book The Amazon Is Burning: The Flames of 21st Century Resistance Inspired by Indigenous Women by Damon Corrie, available through major publishing platforms.
These projects continue the company’s commitment to Indigenous authored storytelling and the creation of space for Indigenous narratives within contemporary media.
Community Support and Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding and community support are essential to the success of these projects. As grassroots Indigenous productions, these films rely on collective participation rather than institutional gatekeeping. Contributions directly support Indigenous artists, actors, language use, and community based production processes.
Through First Nations Productions, Indigenous Caribbean peoples are reclaiming the ability to tell their own stories, in their own voices, and on their own terms.