An art movement built on ancestral wisdom | Jackie Lebo

0:06You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. What lives at the nexus of traditional societies and modernity? When filmmaker, photographer, and writer Jackie Lebo went to the Turkana region in northern Kenya to make a film that explored this question, she thought it would be a project about oil discovery and the nomadic people of the region. Instead, it turned into a deep exploration of pastoralist identity and the power of resource sharing and creative collaboration. In her talk, she shares how this journey transformed her understanding of culture and community and how collective action can generate meaningful art that renews a sense of humanity.

0:51And after the talk, stick around for a special performance from singer Elizabeth Coricel, who is from the Turkana region, and Nairobi-based guitarist Eddie Gray, playing music from the Turkana Sessions, a project which explores the musical heritage of the region along with other styles.

1:14Where I come from, we greet people. How are you? How are the children? How are the cattle? Is it raining? So, how are you? How are the children? How are the cattle? Do you have cattle? Do you have moose? Mooses? No. Okay. Is it raining? Here, I think you should ask for sun. So I went to Turkana in 2014 to make a film. Turkana is in the northernmost part of Kenya, and the people there have been marginalized for so long that they don't identify as Kenyans. Post-independence policies had focused all the resources of the new country in the agriculturally rich south. But now, with the discovery of oil, Kenya was laying claim to Turkana.

2:07Just one generation before, my family was compelled by the twin forces of modernity and colonialism to transition away from a life of nomadic pastoralism. My grandfather would still tell stories of wandering up and down the reef valley with their animals that seemed so far removed from the life we live now. And he would be like, this is you pointing to pictures of Maasai people in full traditional regalia. And I was like, no, no, no, those are the guys who live in National Geographic. So we went into the project believing that people wanted a fair share of the oil revenues, which they did, but they wanted so much more.

2:51They wanted water and security to continue with their pastoralist way of life because it was part of their culture and identity. This forced us to think of new ways of being in the world that we hadn't previously considered. I'm going to talk about how our work in Trukana taught us to creatively collaborate, and then how that taught us to come together, share revenues, and share our humanity. Trukana is organized in units called ERE, which have rights to particular grazing points and watering lands. And this is more like a custodianship than an ownership. And it had led organizations on the ground to think of new sharing models that were based on the culture rather than copy-pasting from economies that had been doing this for longer.

3:45So instead of putting all the resources into our documentary, which could be made by literally three people, we decided to make something bigger that could bring in many more artists. So we brought together 10 artists, five from Nairobi and five from Trukana, and embarked on a tour of the county. We went to the oil fields in the south and danced with an Edonga group in Nakukulas. We went to Trukana Basin Institute and saw fossils that were millions of years old. We went to Central Island and visited tilapia, crocodile, and flamingo lakes. We went swimming in Lake Trukana and a full moon that made the lake look like milk.

4:26We were assured that the crocodiles stayed on their side and the people stayed on their side. And anyway, there was the rule of 10. If 10 of you were swimming, there was only a 10 % chance you'd be eaten by a crocodile. We went to a cattle kraal near the river Tuckwell and slept on hides on the ground. It suddenly made so much sense to me why we greet the way we do. How are you? How are the children? how the cattle, is it raining? Those had been the essential elements of our lives for generations. Without cattle, we would not survive. Without the rain, the cattle would not survive. Without descendants, who would tell our stories when we were gone?

5:09I felt a deep connection with my grandfather. In fact, we all came out of that journey profoundly moved. Perhaps it was lying down on the sand and watching the flights to Europe and the Middle East passed overhead and thinking that this was the same path our human ancestors took tens of thousands of years ago to populate the earth. Perhaps it was opening up yourself to the moment. In the place where we first evolved connection, cooperation, compassion, the very things we define as humanity. So we started to make work from that basis. And our shared experiences plus the new discoveries made work that exceeded our individual capabilities.

6:00From our first project, it's called The Flyest Wedding in Africa, and we imagined what the clothes would look like if we took from what we had seen rather than, you know, white dresses and tuxes. And this is our second project. It's called Floating Flying. We shot it in and around Lake Trukana, which is one of our biggest sources of inspiration. And we imagined a muse who was also a guardian of the lake. So what we learned is that through collaboration, we align with higher values. The false notion that we can harm others or even our planet without harming ourselves cannot stand. True connectedness and participation in something greater than ourselves contribute immensely to happiness, self-worth, and reaffirm our humanity.

6:53This is our third photo series. It's called Oil and Milk, and we are the land of milk, so we were imagining the effect that oil would have on our way of life. And this is our first foray into music, Elizabeth and Eddie Gray. And we did this during the pandemic, so we're not expecting much. But it has turned out to be our most beloved and successful project to date. So with this work under our belt, we started to look for an agent so that we could showcase their work. And they were like, who's the artist? And we were like, all of us. And they were like, I can't sell that. So we built our own platform, the Nomadic Arts Festival, to continue this work and to continue sharing with so many more artists and bringing in ancient and contemporary art forms.

7:43We will close today with two songs created for the inaugural edition of the festival. Eloto is a young woman's plea not to be married off to a man she doesn't love. And Atecare is a celebration of our home region. Thank you.

8:04Thank you.

8:35Thank you.

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9:34Thank you.

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11:07Thank you.

11:29And I'll let you guys in the next one. Thank you.

11:57Thank you.

12:29Thank you.

12:58Goodbye

13:55Hey!

14:10Thank you.

14:27Thank you.

14:57produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Green, Lucy Little, and Tonsika Sungmarnivong. This episode was mixed by Christopher Fazey Bogan. Additional support from Emma Taubner and Daniela Balarezzo. I'm Elise Hu. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed. Thanks for listening.