Empowering indigenous storytellers.
Empowering indigenous storytellers.
Megan Westervelt
Principal Investigator
Megan Westervelt is currently pursuing an MFA in Communication Media Arts at Ohio University. She received her Masters in Photography from OU’s School of Visual Communication in 2014. She then received a Fulbright grant to work in Yasuní National Park, Ecuador, on a collaborative project with indigenous Waorani communities to create a joint visual storytelling exhibition about the changing culture and environment of the Amazonian region, entitled Wao Mimo.
Megan now aims to launch a non-profit organization, InitialEyes, that will empower other indigenous communities globally to visually tell their own stories and create change within their communities to forward the preservation of their culture and conservation of their environment.
Jorge Castillo Castro
Field Research Coordinator and Co-Investigator
Jorge is an Ecuadorian environmental visual communicator passionate about nature and the stories around it. He obtained his biology degree from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, and an M.A. in photography at Ohio University.
Jorge has spent years studying and documenting the unique ecology of Ecuador’s highest peaks and paramos. He was also a contributor to the photographic projects Yasuni en Imágenes and Wao Mimo, which portrayed Yasuni National Park’s natural wonders, cultures, and threats. Currently, Jorge is the Operations Director at Tropical Herping, a tourism founded conservation company focused on the protection of tropical rainforest. By combining his passion for nature with his geeky abilities, Jorge likes to find creative ways to tell stories about nature.
Diana Troya
Field Research Assistant and Co-Investigator
Diana is a biologist and visual anthropologist. Her work focuses mainly on the use of audiovisual tools to tell the stories that need to be told.
Diana’s main interest is to accompany socio-environmental struggles to be able to transmit messages, threats and issues that can potentially generate changes. She has experience in audiovisual production at both institutional and community level. She has worked on projects that link community, nature and science.
Special Thanks to…
In addition to our phenonmenal participants, we would also like to thank Dicaro’s president, Pablo Wine Omehuai, and community organizer Fredy Avila, both of whom offered critical support in the planning and logistics for our field research. We thank the entire community of Dicaro for having received us with such open arms.
This work and our long-term collaboration with Waorani communities in this region of the world would not be possible without the unwavering support of the directors and staff at the Yasuí Research Station (ECY), operated by the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE). David Lasso, Carlos Padilla, and Juan Carlos Armijos have been instrumental in helping us with our many trips in and out of Yasuní. To Marcelo, Mentor, Ramon, Enrique, Jorge, and all the staff at ECY, we truly would not have been able to carry out this important work without your loving support!
A Note from the PI (Megan)
The ideas and questions that formed the very foundation of this research project were sparked by my inspirational mentor and chair, Dr. Saumya Pant. There are not enough words to express my immense gratitude for the loving devotion to this work, to me, and to my professional development as a researcher and creative producer that Saumya provided every step along the way.
I am exceptionally grateful to Dr. Chip Linscott and Dr. Matthew Rosen for their motivational classes and invaluable contributions and unwavering support as committee members throughout this process, as well.
On a personal note, this project would never have become a reality had it not been for the moral encouragement and support at home that my phenomenal partner so generously gifted me for the past three years. Josue, you are the sun to my world, and all the prosocial work I achieve is truly made possible by you.
Finally, to those two beautiful people who instilled in me the work ethic, love for others and our planet, and insatiable curiosity that launched me down the road less traveled by early on, I am and forever will remain absolutely indebted. Dad, this project is proudly dedicated to you and Mom (in her honor). I carry your love with me always, and it always gets me through.
Research Permissions
This research project and website were created to fulfill the requirements as set out by Ohio University for the completion of the MFA Communication Media Arts program at Scripps College of Communication. It was funded in large part by a Student Enhancement Award granted by Ohio University.
We conducted this research with the following permits:
IRB approval for project #21-X-87 issued by Ohio University, Athens, OH, USA
Film permit MAAE-PNY-AU-2021-05 issued by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition of Ecuador
