Description

The faces that you see in this series Not Recognized are focused on the indigenous people from my home community in Robeson County, North Carolina. As part of the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934, the federal government sent anthropologist Carl Seltzer to test the people of their native blood, using stereotypical forms of measurement. Of over 200 that were tested, 22 were recognized as “½ or more Indian.” I’ve used archive photographs from the 1934 testing as references for each painting. These portraits depict the faces of those that were not recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, mirroring the long-standing fight for recognition as distinct native communities rather than simply as individuals amongst a community.