acTiVism
XYZ ATlas
Community Placemaking
XYZ Atlas is a community art project and hedonic mapping tool that visualizes why people feel a sense of belonging to place. Through public installations, workshops, and digital mapping, participants narrativize and geotag vulnerable experiences that highlight histories of erasure and resilience. To date, the project has engaged over 800,000 people at 150+ events, collected 900,000 survey responses, and reached 9 million media impressions, informing health researchers, city planners, and cultural leaders worldwide.
xyzatlas.com
urban echo
Newspaper Amplifying Unhoused Voices
Urban Echo, founded and directed by Denver Gonzales, is a print and online newspaper amplifying the voices of Austin’s unhoused community. Each edition features ten artists through interviews, essays, poetry, and street photography, centering resilience, survival, and systemic challenges while rejecting cancel culture in favor of dialogue. Beyond publishing, Urban Echo provides harm reduction and art programs in encampments and collaborates with the City of Austin Equity Office, Austin Mutual Aid, ECHO, and cultural centers like ESB-MACC and the Carver. Together, these partnerships transform lived experience into civic action, cultural preservation, and community healing.
fisterra.xyz/urban
draw TogeTher
Unhoused Camp Support
Founded in 2017, is a community art initiative directed by Denver Gonzales that brings art classes and workshops to state homeless encampments. The program engages unhoused residents alongside local artists to foster resilience, belonging, and healing through creativity. Each year, Draw Together supports collaborative murals, pop-up workshops, and installations like the Hydrofénix, a living sculpture that merges art with sustainability. Partnering with groups such as The Other Ones Foundation, Austin Mutual Aid, Free Lunch, and Community First Village, Draw Together uses art as harm reduction and civic action, rehumanizing public space & amplifying unheard voices.
fisterra.xyz/drawtogether