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Kiboko Projects, founded in 1999, is a not-for-profit organization which provides opportunities for artistic and creative expression to individuals who would otherwise have limited or no access to the experience of art and art-making in a multimedia setting. Since 1999, the organization has sponsored workshops, exhibitions, and cultural exchange programs on three continents. Participants come from diverse backgrounds and many are creating art for the first time in their lives. First-time Kiboko Projects artists have included children, youth, adults, and entire families who frequently come from segments of society rarely exposed to art workshops of this type. Participants have included immigrants, ex-offenders, physically- and mentally-challenged people, and people with HIV/AIDS, as well as students and artists.

Kiboko Projects workshops typically take place outside of normal "art-world" venues in everyday locations such as schools, community centers, and homes. During Kiboko workshops, participants are given access to state of the art technology and creative media. They also learn a range of creative skills, ranging from literacy-related to technical. Participants at workshops are encouraged to organize, document and speak about their lives, and integrate their new expressive skills, using the technologies available at the workshop. Artists engage in a variety of creative projects, all of which are media that assist in conveying the participants' stories, such as book-making, mask-making, photography, and videography.

Kiboko Projects exhibitions display the results of the workshop process: visual art, autobiographical stories and performances. Many of the works are autobiographical in nature -- powerful and moving expressions of self-discovery by workshop artists that are simultaneously acting as instruments of artistic communication with an audience in the wider world outside of the workshops. Exhibitions take place in community centers, schools, galleries, and other venues. They are viewed by workshop participants (past and future), and by larger audiences from the community.

Video plays a paramount role throughout the Kiboko Project experience. Mark Scheflen, Kiboko Projects' Artistic Director, has used video " to document the art-making project but also to provide an additional means for workshop participants to express themselves and their environment." Video is used to document the progress of workshops, recording the unfolding of the artistic process as participants discover and experience the act of creating their own art. Video is also used to document Kiboko Projects exhibitions and audience responses to the finished works. Reactions include not only gallery-goers' but also participants' responses to their own work. It is exhibited and juxtaposed with work from other cultures. Most importantly, video provides participants with a direct means of telling their personal stories. Through the interview format, they express their hopes for the outcome of the project as well as for their own futures. Video also plays an important educational role; participants are taught how to use the functions of the cameras to create visual, audio, and lighting effects in the workshop and the field. Like the other creative media used by Kiboko Projects, video is used to establish communication not only within the workshop group but also to communicate with the audience beyond it.

The new exhibition, "My Life & Country, Kenya" documents the most recent of a series of cultural exchange workshops organized by Kiboko Projects between the United States, Russia, Kenya and South Africa entitled The Diary Project®. This exhibit features the work of students from two Kenyan schools: St. Nicholas Primary and Secondary School, in Nairobi, and Moi Forces Secondary School Lanet, in Nakuru. Both projects, held in July 2003, focused on storytelling using maskmaking, photography, creative writing, and video. Students took photographs and wrote stories about their lives, families, and communities.

As part of the process of creating their body of work, they learned how to use 35mm film, digital still, and video cameras, how to conduct interviews with each other and with members of their community, and became more skilled in the art of creative writing. The workshop process in both projects was the same; the difference lies in the schools' environments. St. Nicholas is an urban school in the heart of Nairobi, with a diverse population of boys and girls, including Christians and Muslims from a number of African countries. Moi Forces School is attended by girls only who live onsite in the rural community of Lanet, and who represent all the areas and tribes of Kenya. The stories and messages expressed by the participants of both schools were similar in theme, with differences in the executions.

The workshops typically begin with a presentation of past work from participants of other projects in the U.S., Russia, and South Africa and a discussion of the purpose and mission of the international exchange. Following that is a lesson in maskmaking, photography, and the creation of the photodiaries. The maskmaking process is an intimate one, and one that usually changes the group dynamic. Participants make masks of each other, and during this, the group begins to communicate more freely. Over the next few workshop sessions, project members plan and decorate their masks. They interview each other and take field trips where, using the video camera, they interview members of their community and families. In addition, participants take photographs and write text as they start to form their photodiaries. The resulting work produced through the workshops includes a collection of stories about the lives, families, and communities of participants as related in their masks, books and videos.

The students of St. Nicholas used the project as an opportunity to learn about their community. Armed with cameras, they went into their communities to record a look at current day Nairobi neighborhoods, ranging from middle class houses to slums. Examples of some of the book topics include the history of Nairobi, the slums of Nairobi, The Day of the African Child, and St. Nicholas School.

" I have just learned that I don't know much about Nairobi. Because of the project now at least I can say that I know Nairobi and our history. I never went into depth about it. This has really helped me to understand my country and everything else.." Anthony Omondi, student at St. Nicholas, Nairobi

The Moi Forces project produced masks and stories from their communities, along with a number of introspective interviews. The young women (aged 14 to 17) expressed powerful messages about the current situation in Kenya, including women's issues such as circumcision and forced marriages. They talked about political issues, corruption, and HIV/AIDS. Participants also spoke about their hopes and aspirations for the future. They took video cameras into the neighboring city of Nakuru, and conducted interviews with a number of its residents, from which we learn a great deal about life in Kenya. The students choreographed and performed a series of performances on video, with dancing, singing and reciting poetry in Kiswahili, and short skits about various current issues.

"Some men should ease up on women a bit".according to our traditions we happen to be subordinate to the men - it doesn't mean we have to follow everything they tell us. Sometimes we want to do things for ourselves, not always putting them first." Interview with Maureen Walugu, Moi Forces student.

My Life & Country, Kenya will also become part of the Diary Project®, which will continue to exchange stories between Kenya, New York City, Russia, and South Africa. A new series of workshops will take place in New York in early 2004 to respond to the Kenyans, and will then travel to Russian and back to Kenya. The expansion of The Diary Project will also involve the use of other media in addition to the photodiaries and masks, such as theater and dance.

The goal of the project is for children and young adults in different countries to share their stories and to learn about each other's way of life through a cultural dialogue using creative media such as masks, photodiaries, and video.

Additional outcomes from the workshops include learning the skills necessary for creating the work, such as writing, use of digital cameras and video equipment.

An additional goal is to have this system become a model for workshop projects in other cultural institutions and with other parts of the world.

There is a need, especially in these tumultuous times, for understanding and tolerance between members of diverse cultures. The first step in achieving this goal is a dialogue between people in different areas of the world in which they can share with each other a firsthand, unfiltered, look at their lives and their stories. As we learn about and become familiar with other customs and ways of living, we feel more comfortable with those in other cultures. In these chaotic times, the importance of international cultural exchange must be recognized. It has taken on a new meaning in the context of the current international political climate and is becoming a vital means of maintaining peace.