Lakota Star Stories

For the last seven years, I have taught photography to youth between the ages of 8 and 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, rich history, the reservation is situated in one of the nation's poorest counties. The Boys & Girls Club works to combat the impact of such poverty on the tribe's youth, providing them with the tools to become healthy, productive members of their community.

In 2018, I received a commission to work with Club youth to develop artwork for an astronomy festival at San Francisco's California Academy of Sciences. With two other teaching artists, I taught the kids basic camera skills and encouraged them to photograph themselves, their community and the surrounding landscape. From the resulting photographs, we created 12 large murals, exploring the relationship between the Club photographers, the natural world and the sun and the stars. Participating youth traveled to San Francisco to take part in the festival.