The Arts of Guyana: A Multicultural Caribbean Adventure
A readable overview of Guyanese visual culture and arts institutions, published as a downloadable PDF.
Design in Guyana, collected and shared.
Design Guyana is an independent platform that documents and advances design as a cultural, social, and economic force in Guyana.
We explore how design appears across everyday life—from Indigenous knowledge systems and craft traditions to architecture, visual culture, and contemporary design practice.
Through stories and a growing design directory, Design Guyana builds a shared reference for how design shapes the way people live, make, and build in Guyana.
Why Design Guyana Exists
Design in Guyana is often present but rarely named. It lives in how communities build, how objects are made, how spaces respond to climate, and how knowledge is passed down. Design Guyana exists to make these practices visible, documented, and valued—so they can be understood, learned from, and carried forward.
Stories exploring design in Guyana
Our stories explore design through people, places, objects, and systems. They look at architecture, craft, visual culture, Indigenous knowledge, and contemporary practice—not as trends, but as part of everyday life.
Design Directory
The Design Directory is a resource featuring books, places, artists, designers, studios, institutions, and online resources connected to design in Guyana. The directory exists to support learning, discovery, and connection—serving students, researchers, practitioners, and anyone interested in design culture.
Books and Publications
City of Wooden Houses Georgetown Guyana by Compton Davis
A focused book on Georgetown’s wooden built heritage and domestic architecture, often cited in heritage and architecture discussions.
The Art of Denis Williams
A major illustrated reference on Denis Williams and modern Guyanese art history, spanning painting, archaeology, and cultural institution building.
An Introductory Study of the Arts Crafts and Customs of the Guiana Indians
A foundational historical reference documenting Indigenous material culture, tools, and craft traditions in the Guianas, available via the Smithsonian repository.
Indigenous crafts of Guyana by Cobra Collective
A contemporary directory documenting Indigenous craft items, makers, and knowledge, created through a National Geographic Society funded initiative.
Archaeology and Anthropology Journal of the Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology
Open access journal issues and research writing connected to Guyana’s material culture, archaeology, and anthropology.
Time for Guyana (World Monuments Fund)
A heritage focused resource tied to preservation capacity building and the Georgetown International Heritage Conference.
Places
Castellani House National Gallery of Art
A landmark 19th century building designed by Cesar Castellani and home to the National Gallery of Art collection.
Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology
A key museum for Indigenous material culture and heritage research in Guyana, housed in a historic timber building.
Guyana National Museum
A long running national institution that helps connect objects, history, materials, and identity.
Umana Yana
A nationally significant benab and cultural symbol, central to discussions of Indigenous building knowledge in modern Guyana.
Stabroek Market
One of Georgetown’s most iconic civic structures, a strong case study for market architecture and urban identity.
St George’s Cathedral Georgetown
A major timber Gothic Revival landmark, frequently referenced in discussions of wooden architecture and national heritage.
1763 Monument (Cuffy Monument)
A defining public artwork in Georgetown and a strong thread for stories about monument design and national symbolism.
Bina Hill Institute Annai North Rupununi Region 9
A place based learning model connecting education, making, and community knowledge systems in the Rupununi.
Artists and Makers
Philip Moore
Sculptor and painter known for designing the 1763 Monument and shaping national symbolism through public art.
Aubrey Williams
Guyanese modern artist with strong institutional documentation and an international exhibition history.
Frank Bowling
Guyanese born painter with extensive museum documentation and major retrospective coverage.
Donald Locke
Guyanese artist documented by Tate, with a cross media practice spanning drawing, painting, and sculpture.
Hew Locke
Artist raised in Guyana whose work often interrogates symbols, power, objects, and monuments.
George Simon
Lokono Arawak artist and archaeologist, central to Amerindian art development and community anchored creative practice.
Denis Williams
Painter, writer, and archaeologist whose influence bridges visual culture and heritage research.
Bina Hill Institute Annai North Rupununi Region 9
A place based learning model connecting education, making, and community knowledge systems in the Rupununi.
Edward Rupert Burrowes
Artist and teacher who founded the Working People’s Art Class, a foundational root of modern art education in Guyana.
Stanley Greaves
Influential Guyanese painter and writer connected to early modern art education and cultural life in Guyana.