top of page
LAKOTA STAR STORIES

Since 2017, I have taught photography to youth ages 8 to 16 at the Boys & Girls Club on South Dakota’s Rosebud Reservation. While the Rosebud Tribe, also known as the Sicangu Oyate, has a long and rich history, the reservation is located in one of the poorest counties in the nation. The Boys & Girls Club works to counter the effects of poverty on tribal youth by providing them with the tools and support to become healthy, productive members of their community.

In 2018, I received a commission to collaborate with Club youth on artwork for an astronomy festival at San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences. Alongside two other teaching artists, I taught participating students basic photography skills and encouraged them to document themselves, their community, and the surrounding landscape. Using the resulting images, we created 12 large-scale murals exploring the relationship between the young photographers, the natural world, and the sun and stars. Participating youth later traveled to San Francisco to take part in the festival.

Copyright © 2026 Robin Dahlberg

bottom of page