TED Talks Daily An art movement built on ancestral wisdom | Jackie Lebo
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Dec 1, 2025 
In this engaging discussion, filmmaker Jackie Lebo, known for exploring pastoralist identity, talks about her eye-opening trip to Turkana, Kenya. She shares the significance of traditional greetings and how oil discovery is reshaping local cultures. Collaborating with artists, she emphasizes the power of collective creativity in preserving heritage. Projects like the Nomadic Arts Festival showcase deep ancestral connections and community resilience, blending art, music, and environmental awareness to highlight the richness of Turkana life.
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Journey That Rekindled Ancestral Ties
- Jackie Lebo traveled to Turkana with ten artists to document oil discovery and pastoral life, sleeping on hides and swimming in Lake Turkana under a full moon.
- The journey rekindled her connection to ancestral practices and made cultural greetings like "How are the cattle? Is it raining?" deeply meaningful.
Culture Shapes Resource Solutions
- Turkana communities asked for water, security, and the ability to continue pastoralism, not just oil revenue.
- Lebo realized that protecting cultural systems requires designing sharing models rooted in local custodianship, not imported solutions.
Fund Collective Art Projects
- Instead of funding only a documentary, Jackie Lebo pooled resources to include ten artists and expanded the project's scope.
- Build platforms when gatekeepers refuse collective work and showcase collaborative output yourself.