In January 2005, 22 sixth-graders in Mali, West Africa, participated in a photography workshop. Through instruction and guidance from a team of U.S. and Malian photographers, the children, who had never before touched a camera, became documenters of their village life and, through their photographs, they became young contemporary griots. The exhibition Visual Griots of Mali combines the importance of storytelling with the power of the camera; it features 48 black and white photographs portraying the day-to-day delights and duties of village life. As Dr. Mary Jo Arnoldi of the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History comments, "Through their choice of photographic subjects, the students communicated in a nuanced way what is important in their lives. Their ability to capture the interrelationship between place and identity in these photographs is remarkable." By taking ownership of the project and documenting their lives on their own, the children have created a body of work that demystifies their communities and helps us to understand the human experience. The exhibition is a powerful testimony to the importance of visual literacy and what it can mean both for the photographer and for the viewer of images."