After graduating from the University of Illinois with a BA in photography, Kayana launched her first photojournalism project in the fall of 2003, traveling to the Narmada Valley in India to document the impact of the world's second largest dam project on local communities. Soon after, Szymczak was awarded a grant from the Titcomb Foundation to document the impacts of oil development on the communities living in the Ecuadorian Amazon. As a woman of Native American descent with no link to her own tribe, Szymczak strives to be an advocate for endangered indigenous communities around the world who are struggling to preserve their land, culture, language, and right to life. This is the first part of a long-term photographic project documenting the impacts of, and resistance to, oil development in communities around the world.