Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

I was touched by the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and decided to create this piece. The dress honors what was once to be estimated more than 5000 murdered and missing Indigenous women across Canada and the United States. This was a way for me to represent an approach to the issue, while putting something positive into the world, and to remind people that we will never stop looking. 

The necklace is approximately hangs 16 inches. It is made with size 11 seed beads, red hand painted feather, with a indigenous jingle dress dancer in the middle, outlined in 2 different rhinestone trims, backed white white brain tanned deer hide. The necklace has fire color seed beads with two porcupine quills and smoke 6mm Czech Crystals. The set also comes with porcupine quill earrings in fire color seed beads on hypo allergenic ear hooks that dangle approximately 4 inches.

The hand-drawn jingle dress jingles to represent a prayer for all missing and murdered Indigenous woman, I chose red for the overall color for remembrance.

Anyway, another thing is with the construction of pipelines and other fossil fuel projects often brings an influx of male workers to rural areas near small towns and Reservations, where they live in “man camps” disconnected from the surrounding community. In North Dakota, a surge in rates of violent crime and aggravated assault have correlated with the Bakken “oil boom” and the subsequent arrival of thousands of new workers to the region. The state had at least 125 cases of missing Native women, though numbers are likely much higher because data is not officially collected.  A study from the Lake Babine and Nak’azdli nations, in BC, Canada, found that such camps are associated with increased rates of sexual assault and violence against Indigenous women.