We make art with place and community
Essentials Creative is a BIPOC, woman, LGBTQIA+-led artist collective across Austin, San Antonio, and London, founded in San Antonio in 2011. We make photography, video, projection, and site-responsive installation.
The collective: Misa Yamamoto (Japanese; graphic design and art direction), Fabian Villa (Indigenous American — Otomí/Purépecha; photography and videography), Steven Casanova (Mexican-American; video and lighting), and Sixto-Juan Zavala (queer Latinx Mexican-American; design and illustration).
Recent work: Rhizomatic — 35 linen tapestries at the Chicago Botanic Garden (2024, ~15,000 visitors) and 20 at the Austin Central Library roof garden (2025). Native Waters — projection on the Seaholm Intake Building for Design Austin WaterWorks (2024). Yanaguana Garden — at Luminaria San Antonio (2023), then the Texas Biennial 2024 at the Blaffer Art Museum. Plant Story Cards — 95+ species, 49 voices (2026). Our Austin-Bergstrom International Airport commission opens in 2028.
How We Work
Every project begins by listening to a place and the people who hold its histories — and the exchange runs both ways. 49 community members contributed the plant stories on the Plant Story Cards — one person's words per card — and the archive returns to them under a consent protocol we wrote first. At the Chicago Botanic Garden, we made Rhizomatic's 35 tapestries with the garden's scientists.
Our practice is rhizomatic — a rhizome of people and plants. Each work pairs a place with the cultural memory that keeps it alive, and visitors move through it as a living network, not a linear display.
Our Team
Misa Yamamoto
Japanese, born in Tokyo. Graphic design and art direction.
Fabian Villa
Indigenous American (Otomí/Purépecha). Photography, video, and installations; based in Texas.
Steven Casanova
Mexican-American, born and raised in San Antonio. Video and lighting.
Sixto-Juan Zavala
Queer Latinx Mexican-American. Design and illustration; based in London.
Plus a rotating network of collaborators, artists, and community partners.
What We Make
- Installations — Site-responsive textile and sculptural work, built for one place at a time
- Projections — Large-scale video mapped onto architecture and landscapes
- Photography — Documentary and artistic photography for cultural archives
- Design — Visual identity and graphics for community organizations
- Video — Films that preserve and share cultural narratives
Working With Us
We're available for commissions, exhibitions, and partnerships. Recent hosts and commissioners include the Chicago Botanic Garden, Luminaria San Antonio, the Texas Biennial, and the City of Austin's Art in Public Places program. Tell us about your place, your community, and what you want to make together.
Tell us about your project