Jane Baldwin traveled to Africa — Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Zambia, and South Africa — for 14 years to document and photograph the people and landscapes.

At the heart of this work, Kara Women Speak focuses on the women of Ethiopia's Omo River Valley and shares contemporary Indigenous voices at the brink of a crisis. The environmental and human rights issues mirror what's happening around the world to Indigenous people. The stories of the women amplify fears about how the mega dam impacts their flood-recession agriculture, agribusiness land grabs restrict cattle grazing areas, and "villagization" is dismantling their community.

Kara Women Speak archives the Omo women's vital testimonials in a fight for Indigenous land rights and offers a snapshot in time emblematic of colonialism. The multimedia collection includes portrait and landscape photography, videos, audio recordings of ambient sounds, interviews, and oral traditions (songs and lullabies). These elements construct a multi-sensory experience of a crucial moment in Indigenous societies.

Baldwin, aided by her interpreter and guide, interviewed women of the Omo River Tribes. Sometimes with her family present, the women shared stories in their own words — themes included motherhood, daily life, ritual, spiritual beliefs, and the natural world. Strict gender roles often meant women didn't participate in the Tribe's conversations or decisions unless invited by the elders. The women were eager to share concerns about their people and the effects of upriver dam construction.