KIOO Project Introduces Lakota Teens to Film Photography with the LomoApparat

We've previously featured the incredible work of KIOO Project over the years, most recently recapping their 2022 workshop in Nepal.

If you don't already know what KIOO is all about, they are a non-profit organization aiming to achieve gender equality through the art of photography. Traveling to different communities across the globe, they teach photography to girls who, in turn, teach photography to boys.

This summer, we collaborated with KIOO to bring an analogue debut to their workshops, starting out in Oglala Lakota Nation on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, USA. In partnership with Thunder Valley, KIOO set out to the Midwest to teach the essence of photography to local Lakota youth. There, with the help of the LomoApparat, students were introduced to the basics of film and its capabilities for creative techniques.

Today we're speaking to Babita Patel, the founder of KIOO Project, who is here to share the latest updates and insights from the growing organization.

Hi Babita, welcome back to Lomography Magazine! What has KIOO Project been up to since we last spoke?

Thanks for having us back! Since our chat about the Nepal workshop, KIOO has been busy. We hit a big milestone by hosting two workshops in one year—one with Indigenous Mayan students in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala, and another with Lakota youth in the Oglala Lakota Nation, more commonly known as the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. We also translated our curriculum into Spanish, opening doors for future workshops across Latin America. Plus, we added a new Board Member and passionate photography teachers to our team!

Tell us a bit about the intentions behind this project. What was your motivation for bringing KIOO to the Pine Ridge Reservation?

Years ago, while on assignment in Cité Soleil, Haiti, I photographed kids playing soccer with a half-inflated ball. Curious hands reached for my camera to see the image, and one boy lingered, pointing to each face. When he spotted his own, he burst into giggles. I realized then that for a community living on less than $2 a day, seeing their own reflection was a rare luxury. Photography became a mirror for him, showing him his own face for the first time. In that moment, I understood the power of a camera in a child’s hands— to help her see herself and her world in new ways, build confidence, and inspire change. In developing KIOO’s program, we saw this as a chance to push for gender equality with a peer-to-peer model— teaching photography to girls, who then teach boys. Everyone taps into their creativity, but girls also grow as leaders, and just as importantly, boys witness girls in these strong, leadership roles.

Most of our programs have run internationally, with our only U.S.-based workshop in Brooklyn eight years ago. This time, we wanted to focus on a community often overlooked in the U.S.— the Indigenous population of Turtle Island (the Native name for North America). We found the ideal partner in Thunder Valley, an organization that aims to uplift Lakota youth and families by healing and strengthening cultural identity. Like many other Native communities, the Lakota were originally a matriarchal society, but shifted to patriarchy during colonization. Our goal was to help the youth connect with their gender-positive roots, along with fostering pride in what it means to be Lakota.

How was it introducing film for the first time in your workshops? What did the students like most about it?

It felt nostalgic to talk about film photography with our students for the first time. It took me back to when I first discovered photography in art school— learning the mechanics of film photography, what is possible, being intentional of what I photograph since the roll only has 36 exposures. It also felt like we were explaining the evolution of photography in reverse since our students’ world is all about camera phones, and they had skipped right over digital cameras. They didn’t even know what memory cards were!

Many of our students said they preferred film over digital! They loved how easy the LomoApparat cameras were to use and had a blast experimenting with the different lenses. Even the lack of immediately seeing their images was fun since it added an unexpected level of anticipation.

What sparked the idea to use double exposures?

While talking with the Lomography team in the New York office about sponsoring our Lakota program, a book of double exposures caught my eye. The images were playful and full of energy, capturing the essence of the subjects with joy. That sparked an idea: What if the girls photographed the Lakota land, and their boy students created double exposure portraits of Lakota people over those landscapes? The result would blend land and people, symbolizing the deep, cherished connection the Lakota have with their land.

What is in store for the future of KIOO? Are there any more exciting workshops planned?

We have amplified our impact by inviting photographers to help teach our workshops, and it has sparked something unexpected— now they want to bring KIOO to their home countries! We are exploring workshops in a Mexican pueblo, a remote village in the Austrian Alps, and even rural China. We are also in talks with UNICEF to host workshops in countries where they focus on gender equality. Plus, both of this year’s programs— Guatemala and Lakota— are continuing with a year-long curriculum we developed, which our local partners are helping implement!

For those in the Lomography community who want to contribute to KIOO Project's efforts, what steps would you recommend they take?

We are endlessly grateful to everyone who believes in the power of gender equality through photography. Imagine a world where every girl and boy takes part in a KIOO workshop at a pivotal moment in their lives— it could reshape the future of gender equality and creativity! If you want to help make this vision a reality, follow us on Instagram, donate through our website, or connect us with brands, companies, individuals or foundations who would like to support us too. We are always seeking new partners for workshops, and once our new website launches, photographers can even apply to help teach for a future program!

Thank you Babita for joining us once again! If you'd like to keep up with KIOO, be sure to follow them on Instagram or check out their website.

written by alexa_alexiades on 2024-10-01 #gear #culture #places #collaboration #analogue #lomoschool #lomoapparat #learning-with-lomography