Sometimes the best things start when we share something simple. 🙂
I learned that big things can start with a smile, a postcard, and a good meal. The best part about the Wikimedia community is that we never know where our next conversation might lead us.
Last year, during Wikimania 2024 in Poland, I was at the exchange table with a bunch of postcards from India. That’s where I met Olesia Lukaniuk, the project manager of the international photographic competition Wiki Loves Earth. She was sharing beautiful postcards of Wiki Loves Earth from different countries.
We started talking about our countries and nature. I mentioned why India hadn’t joined Wiki Loves Earth in such a long time, and I shared that we had plans to change that. Olesia smiled, and we had a great conversation about what it would take to bring Wiki Loves Earth back to India. That question stayed in my heart. We swapped postcards and promised to make something special happen.
During one of the many cultural exchanges that make Wikimania special, I also had a conversation with Tiven, the international coordinator for Wiki Loves Folklore, who is also from India. We talked about India’s rich traditions— and our conversation focused on how we could support Wiki Loves Folklore activities in India. By the time our conversation ended, I knew we wanted to help bring this movement to a bigger scale in India. Our folklore traditions deserved a place on the global stage of free knowledge.
Later, during one of the dinners, I sat with Ranjith chettan1 from Wikimedians of Kerala UG, along with Olesia and Kate from Ukraine, and Tiven and William from the US. That table was full of excitement and laughter! We exchanged Ukrainian and Indian currencies as souvenirs and had wonderful discussions about Indian food, sharing stories about our favorite dishes and spices. Tiven encouraged me to start folklore activities in India, saying he and the international team would support us. With those two conversations, my dream became much bigger: not just nature photos, but also Indian folk stories, dances, festivals, and crafts. If my conversation with Olesia had planted one seed, my talk with Tiven planted another.
Bringing the Ideas Home
The flight home from Katowice was filled with excited planning and note-taking. The conversations had planted seeds, but turning inspiration into reality would need the support of India’s vibrant Wikimedia community.
After coming back to India, things moved quickly. We kicked off Wiki Loves Onam 2024 campaign, where people took photos and shared stories about Kerala’s biggest festival in Wikimedia projects. The response was encouraging – community members enthusiastically documented Onam celebrations, traditional recipes, cultural performances, and the beautiful pookalam (flower carpets) that adorn homes during the festival. This initial success gave us confidence that our bigger plans for 2025 could work.
Over the following months, my individual enthusiasm grew into collective action. We shared this idea during the Wikimedians of Kerala User Group’s monthly meetup. We held a small, friendly meeting during a Wikimedia Workshop in Thrissur as part of the Wiki Loves Onam campaign. During that initial offline meeting, the discussion started about how to mobilize community support and discuss plans for the upcoming Wiki Loves Earth 2025 photo competition. The Wikimedians of Kerala User Group, known for their successful campaigns and expertise in both biodiversity documentation and Wikimedia projects, stepped forward to lead the initiative.
2025: The Year It All Came Together
As 2025 unfolded, those Katowice conversations began to bear fruit in ways that exceeded even our wildest dreams.s.
Wiki Loves Folklore Takes Off
The Wiki Loves Folklore & Feminism and Folklore campaign in India 2025, started with the support of the Wikimedia Foundation and communities, created an amazing impact across India’s cultural landscape. Seven user groups and language communities from India came together and collaborated, sharing stories, songs, photos, and art from all over India. This wasn’t just one campaign—it was many related activities spread across different languages and regions within India. The numbers tell part of the story: 370+ participants uploaded 30,400+ files for the folklore photography campaign. Among these, around 66% were first-time contributors. The real story was in how many different people got involved and how deeply they engaged with their culture.
Along with the photography campaign, the Feminism and Folklore writing contests brought together contributors across six language Wikipedias—Assamese, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Kashmiri, and Tulu. Workshops and photo walks brought together elders, students, photographers, and artisans—many joining Wikimedia for the first time through these events.
Wiki Loves Earth Returns
The Wiki Loves Earth India 2025 campaign marked the return of this international photography competition to India after an eight-year break.
Over two months, the campaign attracted 1,360+ contributors, with 92% of them being first-time contributors to Wikimedia Commons. These photographers—both professional and amateur—uploaded 9,744 images documenting India’s natural heritage. From the Himalayas to coastal wetlands, from tiger reserves to butterfly sanctuaries, India’s biodiversity was finally being shared with the world again.
When I look back at the incredible results that emerged from both campaigns, I’m filled with amazement at what we as a community from India have achieved. What started as my small effort to support cultural heritage and nature documentation became a remarkable testament to the dedication and expertise of India’s Wikimedia communities. The projects’ success was built on the foundation of collaboration with various Wikimedia communities across India and all those who contributed to these campaigns and who supported these initiatives.
The Unexpected Impact
These campaigns created impacts that none of us had imagined during those original conversations in Katowice. Media attention brought wider awareness to both the campaigns and the bigger mission of open knowledge. Local newspapers covered the photography competitions, and cultural organizations began reaching out to collaborate on future projects.
For me personally, one moment really showed how meaningful this work had become. While documenting Theyyam in Kannur, Kerala, I realized that what started as a photography campaign had transformed into something much deeper—we were creating a digital archive that would outlast us all, ensuring that the spirit and beauty of these performances would inspire people decades from now, long after the last performer had taken their final bow. We were preserving living traditions, honoring the artists who keep these ancient stories alive, and making sure that future generations—both in Kerala and around the world—could understand and appreciate this incredible art form. It’s not just documentation; it’s about respect, celebration, and keeping culture alive.
Perhaps most importantly, the campaigns created lasting connections. Photographers connected with folklorists, traditional artists found new platforms for sharing their work, and Wikimedia communities across different languages began working together more closely. The seeds planted in Katowice had grown into a thriving ecosystem of cultural preservation and celebration.
Thank You, and What’s Next?
As I write this story, I’m smiling and thinking about the small conversations happening at other Wikimedia events around the world. What seeds are being planted today that will bloom into tomorrow’s campaigns? What simple questions might spark the next wave of collaborative documentation?
The seeds planted in Poland have grown into something beautiful in India. And knowing the passionate, creative spirit of the Wikimedia community, I’m certain this is just the beginning of what’s possible when we dare to ask simple questions and then work together to find extraordinary answers.
I want to thank Olesia for sparking those first discussions, Tiven for encouraging me about Indian folklore, and Ranjith chettan and Manoj chettan, and the entire Wikimedians of Kerala team whose support, expertise, and dedication transformed conversations into reality. Most of all, thanks to everyone who joined these community events, contributed, supported the jury process, or simply cheered us on.
I’m happy to see more people from different places join in together during these conferences—because wonderful things happen when we come together, ask questions, and take that first small step.
This is not the end—it’s just the beginning. The journey isn’t over. Our community is growing 🙂
Who knows what our next conversation will lead to…
- Chettan (In Malayalam) literally means big brother. In Kerala we call anyone who is older than ourselves. ↩︎
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