An art movement built on ancestral wisdom | Jackie Lebo

Summary

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TED Talks Daily — Episode Summary

Episode Title: An art movement built on ancestral wisdom | Jackie Lebo

Date: December 1, 2025
Main Speaker: Jackie Lebo
Featured Performers: Elizabeth Corykel (vocalist, Turkana region), Eddie Gray (guitarist, Nairobi)
Duration: ~18 minutes (main content runs from approximately 03:40 to 15:54)

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Overview

This episode features Kenyan filmmaker, writer, and photographer Jackie Lebo recounting her transformative journey into the Turkana region of Northern Kenya. What began as a documentary project about oil exploration evolved into a wider creative, communal, and artistic movement rooted in Turkana’s pastoralist identity and shared ancestral wisdom. Jackie highlights the community’s spirit of collaboration, the importance of land and resource sharing, and the creative fusion born from bridging traditional and contemporary art forms. The episode concludes with a moving musical performance from “The Turkana Sessions,” celebrating the region’s heritage.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Meaning Behind Traditional Greetings

[03:40]

• Jackie opens by sharing the tradition of greetings in her community:

  “Where I come from, we greet people. How are you? How are the children? How are the cattle? Is it raining?”

• The greetings center around well-being, family, livestock, and climate—elements vital to survival and cultural continuity.

2. Initial Motivation & Unexpected Discoveries

[04:00]

• Lebo’s initial project focused on oil and marginalized nomadic communities, expecting the locals to primarily seek a share in oil revenue.
• However, the Turkana people valued water, security, and the preservation of their pastoralist way of life above mere financial compensation.
• Reflects on personal family history: her grandfather’s tales of nomadic life, illustrating generational disconnects and perceptions of tradition as “distant.”

3. Reimagining Resource Sharing and Art

[05:30]

• Turkana’s social structure is based on "ere"—custodianship over grazing and watering points rather than outright ownership.
• This model inspired the project to embrace collaboration, aiming to reflect Turkana values by involving multiple artists, rather than a traditional, top-down film crew.
• The initiative expanded:

  “We brought together 10 artists, five from Nairobi and five from Turkana, and embarked on a tour of the county.”

4. The Transformative Journey

[06:15–07:40]

• The creative group traveled through Turkana: oil fields, traditional dances, prehistoric fossil museums, and the striking landscape of Lake Turkana.

• Memorable moment: swimming in Lake Turkana under a full moon, adhering to the “rule of 10” to avoid crocodiles.

• These shared experiences offered profound insight into the central role of environment, livestock, and ancestral lineage in daily life and identities.

  “It suddenly made so much sense to me why we greet the way we do... 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. Connection to Ancestry and Humanity

[08:10]

• Lying on the sand, watching flights overhead, Jackie ponders shared human history—the notion that the paths above trace migration routes of our ancestors.
• This introspection links connection, cooperation, and compassion to the core of humanity.
• Through creative collaboration rooted in this humanity, the group produced work surpassing individual capabilities.

6. Art Projects Rooted in Collaboration

[09:00–11:20]

• The Flyest Wedding in Africa:
  Imagined wedding attire through the lens of local tradition, not Western conventions.
• Floating Flying:
  A project inspired by Lake Turkana, envisioning a guardian-spirit muse of the lake.
• Oil and Milk:
  Explores the tension between oil discovery and the “land of milk”—the traditional pastoralist livelihood.
• Turkana Sessions (Music):
  A pandemic-era collaboration featuring Elizabeth Corykel and Eddie Gray, blending ancestral and contemporary sound.

  “We’re not expecting much, but it has turned out to be our most beloved and successful project to date.”

7. Building New Platforms for Collective Art

[11:35]

• Faced with a Western-centric art market demanding singular authorship (“Who’s the artist?”), Lebo and collaborators create their own platform:

  “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.”

8. Concluding Reflections and Musical Performance

[12:34+]

• The talk closes with performances of two festival pieces:
  • “Elloto” — a young woman’s plea not to be married off
  • “Aceh Care” — a celebration of the home region
• Jackie sums up the ethos of their movement:

  “True connectedness and participation in something greater than ourselves contribute immensely to happiness, self-worth, and reaffirm our humanity.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Traditional Greeting:
  Jackie Lebo, [03:40]

  “Where I come from, we greet people. How are you? How are the children? How are the cattle? Is it raining?”

• On Cultural Disconnect:
  Jackie Lebo, [04:40]

  “My grandfather would still tell stories of wandering up and down the Rift Valley with their animals that seemed so far removed from the life we live now... I was like, no, no, no. Those are the guys who live in National Geographic.”

• On Redefining Ownership:
  Jackie Lebo, [05:55]

  “Turkana 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.”

• On the Impact of Collaboration:
  Jackie Lebo, [10:40]

  “Through collaboration, we align with higher values. The false notion that we can harm others or even our planet without harming ourselves cannot stand.”

• On Art Market Challenges:
  Jackie Lebo, [11:30]

  “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.’”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:40] Opening greeting tradition and cultural frame
• [04:00–05:00] Discovering oil vs. community desire for continuity
• [05:30–06:20] Resource sharing, ‘ere’, and collaborative art concept
• [06:15–07:40] Artistic tour of Turkana & landscape experiences
• [08:10] Reflection on ancestry and shared human evolution
• [09:00–11:20] Discussion of major collaborative art projects
• [11:35] Encountering market resistance, creating Nomadic Arts Festival
• [12:34–14:00] Musical performance: “Elloto” and “Aceh Care”
• [11:00 & summary] Key takeaways on collaboration, humanity, and creative renewal

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Takeaways for Listeners

• The essence of community, art, and humanity can be found in the wisdom of ancestral traditions and the practice of collective custodianship.
• True innovation in art and culture is realized through collaboration that honors both heritage and contemporary creativity.
• Market constraints on collective authorship can be overcome by building new platforms and festivals that prioritize community and inclusivity over individual recognition.

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For more talks from the TED Audio Collective, visit ted.com.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Where 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? Mees mooses?

[C]

No.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Is it raining, though, here? I think you should ask for sun. So, yeah. 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. Just 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 Rift 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. They 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. So 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 Turkana under a full moon that made the lake look like milk. We were sure that the crocodiles stayed on their side and the people stayed in their sight. And anyway, there was the rule of 10. If 10 of you were swimming, there's 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 are 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, I 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. From 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 taxes. 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. This 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. We will close today with two songs created for the inaugural edition of the festival. Elloto is a young woman's plea not to be married off to a man she doesn't love and Aceh Care is a celebration of our home region. Thank you. It. Sam sa.

[C]

Kariga jalaga.

[A]

I know that you. Know.

[B]

Jesus.

[A]

It's sam. That was Jackie Lebo, followed by Elizabeth Corycal and Eddie Gray at TED 2025. If you're curious about TED's curation, find out [e-mail] curationguidelines and that's it for today. TED Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective. This talk was fact checked by the TED Research team and produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Greene, Lucy Little and Tansika Songmanivong. This episode was mixed by Christopher Faizy Bogan. Additional support from Emma Tobner and Daniela Balaurazo. I'm Elise Hu. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed. Thanks for listening. Foreign.

[C]

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[D]

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[C]

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