the program
Ascetics with Cameras is a Community Outreach Program in Cross-Cultural Exchange and Experiential Multimedia Education, based throughout India and led by Nicole Jaquis – produced by relativelyLocal, in collaboration w/ Juna Akhara, with support by Projectile Arts.
Giving multimedia recording devices to the ascetics of Juna Akhara and teaching them to use the equipment to interview each other and document their own experiences, has empowered them to share with the rest of the world their living histories. For centuries these ascetics have been subject to local and foreign media, often seen showing off for the camera during the Kumbh Mela (which is really like a party for them, not at all indicative of their daily lives). Few have been given their own voice to express who their are, what they’ve been through or why they have adopted this lifestyle in the first place. This program sets out to turn the tables, elevating Shiva’s Army into an army of citizen journalists.
 journalists in middle of Sangam, Maha Kumbh Mela 2001, Allahabad |
 nagas waiting on Sangam shore, Maha Kumbh Mela 2001, Allahabad |
Ascetics with Cameras has evolved over the years into an independent multimedia education program for a select group of under-represented Sadhvis (female ascetics) within Juna Akhara, the oldest and largest order of Hindu monks and nuns who worship Shiva. Initiated at the 2004 Kumbh Mela in Ujjain and further developed at the 2007 Kumbh Mela in Prayag (Allahabad), the program’s goal is to give cameras (photo & digital video) to women members of Juna Akhara and while keeping within the guru (teacher) / shisha (student) tradition, empower “each one to teach one” to use the equipment in the production of a collection of multimedia, culminating into a juke-box style DVD of short videos, a book of photographs and writing, and a companion social-media-platform online presence (website) with a global following. The ultimate long-term goal of this project is to instill in these women a curriculum of media production training, thus elevating “Shiva’s (female) Army” into an army of citizen-journalists, armed with the weapons of mass communication, able to speak truth to power.
[as of 2009]
Note: the (male ascetics)Sadhus of Juna Akhara who have already been trained in camera use (since 2001) will continue to be mentored as citizen journalists, however few new men will be selected for the program, as the current goal of this endeavor is to empower the (women ascetics)Sadhvis to do the same.
The media hosted on this website will provide an insider’s scoop to the Kumbh Mela (the largest gathering in the history of the world), Juna Akhara (the oldest and largest organization of ascetics who worship Shiva), and the variations of daily life experiences, told by the sadhus and sadhvis themselves.
Program dates (during and beyond the following festivals):
2001, Maha Kumbh Mela, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh
2004, Simhastha Kumbh Mela, Ujjain, Madhaya Pradesh
2007, Ardha Kumbh Mela, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh
2010, Maha Kumbh Mela, Haridwar, Uttarkand
2013, Maha Kumbh Mela, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh
