Awalay (Hollis Baptiste) is a multi-media artist. Born in Trinidad in 1962. He now resides in Canada since 1972.

He collects, assembles and often re-contextualizes found screws, wire, pieces of wood, and an assortment of household paint. Baptiste sees the action of picking up an object as a casual encounter. He often keeps the found object for several years before he includes it in one of his works. Awalay sees beyond the shape and form of the object and tries to put it into the context of his thinking.

To Awalay, the very notion of art should be a reflection of what is happening in the world; as seen in his works which always go beyond sheer aesthetic beauty.