CONTACTCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2025 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
Scroll To Top






By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
The Two-Spirit Lakota of Pine Ridge
A photographer shares the light of LGBTQ+ Native Americans in South Dakota
For her Two-Spirit Lakota project, Magdalena Wosinska photographed LGBTQ+ members of the Oglala Lakota tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
“I was really wanting to connect with understanding more of what goes on in Pine Ridge and its Two-Spirit community,” Wosinska says. “Oftentimes, people go there to extract and show the harsh ways of living and poverty there. I wanted to go and follow the light of the Two-Spirit community and show the beauty in community they had to offer to one another.”
Photography by Magdalena Wosinska
This piece initially ran in Out Traveler print issue Summer 2022.
Wosinska was born in Poland, then her family moved to Phoenix when she was 9, where she grew up skateboarding. She picked up a camera in her teens and began documenting her life and friends.
Candi Brings Plenty, an activist who successfully lobbied for South Dakota’s hate crime protection bill to include Native American Two-Spirit people
“Being a photographer for me is an honor,” she says. “To capture people’s lives and stories to then share with the world, and for us all to learn from those stories and be inspired by them. Growing up in post-WWII communist Poland with a father that always struggled/hid his sexuality, often drew me to hearing other stories like his and bringing them to light with beauty.”
Entrance to Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota’s Badlands
At 19, Wosinska moved to Los Angeles to photograph skate culture there. She played in a metal band for nearly a decade and continued capturing her milieu on film. She’s worked for big brands like American Express, Harley-Davidson, AirBnB, and Wrangler. But she’s also continued to document outsider communities, including Compton’s Black cowboys and trans skate crews. “I love documenting life for what it really is,” she says.
Nicole Big Crow (left), and her girlfriend, Ashley Colhoff
Asked what she learned from her Two-Spirit Lakota project, Wosinska says, “Too much to answer in this interview. We would need a weekend for that. That trip changed my life.”
An unnamed Two-Spirit Lakota tribal member in a field at night.
Quoted in Indian Country Today, representatives of Nagi Nunpa Hocaka (the Two-Spirit Circle, a space for LGBTQ+ youth in Pine Ridge), acknowledged that the reservation isn’t always a safe place for LGBTQ+ people.
Jesse Merdanian
Some of Wosinska’s subjects chose to stay anonymous.
Two unnamed Two-Spirt Lakota friends next to a highway on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation
This piece initially ran in the Summer 2022 print issue. Out Traveler is available on newsstands.
Latest Stories
Top 10 LGBTQ+ beach towns perfect for Pride and summer fun
June 05 2025 1:54 PM
Checking out: nhow London, the city’s coolest hotel
June 02 2025 8:45 AM
Wilderness, woods, and Wigstock: Drag icons light up the Catskills
May 28 2025 12:17 PM
Out and About with Christian Cooper
May 28 2025 11:07 AM
Lesbian Pride: Here's every Dyke March in the U.S. in 2025
May 14 2025 7:44 AM
'Boys! Boys! Boys!' debuts new podcast
May 01 2025 5:03 PM
Cobblestones, castles, and culture: Your LGBTQ+ guide to Edinburgh
April 30 2025 12:44 PM
My magical and affordable escape to Portugal
April 25 2025 6:08 PM
EDC Weekend Desert Days hits Sin City with Ultra Load
April 25 2025 4:27 PM
Pride-themed Easter shortbread treats!
April 14 2025 11:13 AM
Out and About with Karan Soni
April 04 2025 8:00 AM
The Charles is Pacific Grove's new LGBTQ+ hotel
March 28 2025 7:07 PM
Cowboys & Queens U.S. tour by Jane Hilton: A modern American dream
March 27 2025 5:00 AM
Where to stay in LGBTQ+ Ireland: Castles, domes and luxury retreats
March 17 2025 11:52 AM
Discover why chic Costa Navarino is Europe's luxury getaway
March 10 2025 5:00 AM