About | My Site

Our ability to imagine and co-create a thriving, healthy planet begins with the stories we choose to tell. Narratives shape the way we think, the futures we believe are possible, and the actions we take together. Through storytelling, science, art, and education, we can nurture collective imagination, inspire responsibility, and create pathways toward solutions grounded in reciprocity, community, and care for the Earth

Being an Indigenous youth from the Amazon rainforest, carrying this responsibility has taught me that collaboration is essential to weaving real solutions. The work is urgent and often difficult, but hope is stronger. What I have learned from my own traditions and from Indigenous peoples around the world is that humans can be good for the planet. By decentering ourselves and embracing relationality — understanding that we exist in reciprocity with rivers, forests, animals, and one another — we can become active participants in the Earth’s healing rather than its destruction

storytelling is powerful and it's transforming the world for the better.

Biography

Elizabeth Virkina Swanson is a Napuruna-Kichwa Indigenous filmmaker, photographer, and sustainability researcher from the Ecuadorian Amazon. Her work is rooted in storytelling as a tool for Indigenous knowledge transmission, environmental documentation, and community-led communication in the Napo River Basin, where she works closely with the Iyarina Research & Education Center and the 1,300-acre Iyarina Reserve stewarded by her ayllu-muntun (clan).

Currently pursuing her M.A. in Sustainability at Arizona State University, graduating in 2026, she works at the intersection of Indigenous knowledge, environmental research, and visual storytelling. Through photography and filmmaking, she focuses on strengthening intergenerational knowledge transmission in Runashimi/Napu-Kichwa while amplifying Indigenous perspectives on rivers, climate, and ecological change.

Below is a selection of her work & collaborations.

Photography & Art Exhibition

Film Screenings

“Community” Wildscreen & If Not Us Then Who | United Nations COP26

Indigenous Imaginarium |

Contemporary Center for the Arts

“Echoes of the Earth” If Not Us Then Who | United Nations COP28

"Voices of the Amazon" Casa Maraka & Nature Conservancy | United Nations COP30

The Game of Life - Arizona State University

"Waska: The Forest is My Family" screened at Imagine Native, Maori Film Fest, SIFF, Mountain Film Fest, among more.

Atmos Fundraiser for Indigenous Youth Collective in Defence of the Amazon Rainforest

Weave the Heart Beyond the Map | London June 2026 coming soon

Academic Research

Advancing Digital Justice for Indigenous Stewardship in Ecuadorian Amazonia: Using Kichwa Traditional Ecological Knowledge to Protect Amazonian River Ecosystems (ongoing research)

Biocultural Resistance: Creating the Conditions of Possibility for Indigenous Traditional Knowlege to flourish in the Napo River Basin (ongoing graduate research)

Geospatial Analysis of Urban Heat Island Effects in Tempe, Arizona | NASA Develop National Program (2018)

Geospatial Flood Risk Mapping for Toronto Coastal Communities |NASA Develop National Program |(2019)