Bio

Mashal Awais is originally from Lahore Pakistan and immigrated to Houston, Texas in 2008. Her work explores and expands on her experience and influences living and finding sparks of joy in the mundane of diaspora, weaving the concept of home through everyday rituals and through texture, sound, conversation, fabric and thought, holding onto and exploring new spaces.

She has a background in Chemistry (UT Austin 2012) and Environmental Analysis (Rice University 2017), and is inspired by indigenous knowledge and local/folk practices as it interacts with her world, especially in the expression of cultural and oral tradition, language and literature, indigenous science and conservation.

She currently works as the Community Science Manager at Bayou City Waterkeeper, where she advocates for flood mitigation, protecting habitat, ensuring equitable access to nature and clean water by building data to action frameworks, and centering community lens in traditional scientific practices.

She is a student of the bansuri, a traditional bamboo folk instrument from North India/Pakistan/Nepal, under the mentorship of the renowned living legend, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia.

She lives with her family in Houston Texas.