ava xia research + design + curation
BIO
Ava Xia is an
environmental researcher and designer based in London.
Her research explores the cosmological and planetary relationships between Indigenous practices and landscapes, questioning extractivism and colonial legacies. Through counter-cartography, participatory mapping, and sonic documentation, she develops creative and alternative ways of engaging with landscapes, fostering resilience and imagining collective futures grounded in solidarity.
She engages in professional works at Lo—TEK Office for Intercultural Urbanism, INTERPRT Studio, and GIT|
Territorial Investigation Group where her practice continues to engage with alternative ways
of understanding and representing landscapes and knowledge it produces.
In parallel, she initiated LORE, a collective spatial practice centred on lore as living ecological knowledge. Her practice investigates cultural memory, ecological relationships, and environmental justice through analogue, embodied, sonic, and performative forms of counter-cartography, collective imagination, and landscape-based interventions under climate crisis.
CONTACT
avaxia.25@gmail.com
Instagram
EXHIBITIONS
SOS2026 ‘In Dialogue’ @ The Koppel Project
- Lore-log: Chalky Matters
By Ava Xia
Cohorts:Tireni Adeniji, Olena Geda, Jolene Liam, Lars Oschman, Paayal Patel, Jonathan Reichental, Nyahalo Tucker, Spencer Yu
Photo by Ava Xia
Milan Design Week 2026 ‘Helloe Darkness’ @ BASE
- The Static Between Us
By Anastrophes Collective
(Ava Xia, Aya El Khouri, Isabel Palacios-Macedo Aguilar,Tima Rabbat)
Render by Ava Xia
‘FUTURE FORWARD’ @ FUGUE Gallery @ RCA
- Radioactivity, Radio Waves, and Resistance
Photo by Ava Xia
Practices
Lore of Wandle Workshops
Sep 2026
Facilitator:Ava Xia
Carshalton community-based mapping, lore-shairng, mask/costume-making workshops and riverside celebration as a partof Wandle Fortnight 2026.
Sponsored by:
Wandle Valley Forum
Friends of Poulter Park and Revesby Wood
Avian Mobility Workshop
Aug 2026
Facilitator:Ava Xia
A sonic mapping workshop exploring the birdsong of Hackney
In this sonic walking and mapping workshop, we'll explore birdsong by reimagining and spatialising invisible yet audible forms of urban life. Through hands-on and embodied listening practices, participants will investigate how landscapes become legible through sound, and how birds and environments continuously co-produce one another through movement, transmission, and ecological relations.
Lore-log Workshop Series
Aug 2026
Facilitator:Ava Xia
The Lore-log workshop continues the exhibition Lore-log: Chalky Matters through a participatory workshop format. It operates through a duo-mode structure, consisting of a mock-up lore-centred methodology: a critical Lore-Making session and a live Lore-Dressing performance. Through collective reimagination, participatory listening, and mapping of folkloric landscapes, the workshop reinterprets the project’s themes and explores new relationships between memory, place, and ecological imagination.
GIT: Silhas Report
June 2026
Team:
Godofredo Pereira
Francisco Calafate-Faria
Ava Xia
Mingxin Li
Lo—TEK : 10 Principles of TEKNOLOGICAL URBANISM
July 2026
Anastrophes Podcast Series
since 2025
Team:
Ava Xia
Aya El Khouri
Christie Swallow
Marie Lehman
If a catastrophe is things falling apart, then each episode of Anastrophe is a convergence — a moment of coming together. Through these walking conversations, we collect stories of key moments of changes in their practice, each one a marker of where our guests have been and where they’re heading next.
Lo—TEK Office Social Campaign Series
2026
Directors: Julia Watson + Charlene Smith
Researcher + Designer: Ava Xia + Liuyun Wang
Last Updated 24.10.31