Murder, assault, and abduction are commonplace among Native American women. Indigenous women are 2.5 times more likely to be raped, and are 10 times more likely to be murdered than white women. The worst part about all of this is that because the crimes are most often committed on native soil by non-Native perpetrators, the indigenous police departments have no jurisdiction in these cases. Instead, the jurisdiction goes to the federal government who declines most of the cases (more than two- thirds). This causes the Native women to feel invisible and as if no one can help them with their issues. As a result, they live their lives in fear of when they are going to be raped, abducted, or murdered.

For this project I chose to make a bead embroidery piece that portrays half of a Native woman's face. The woman is depicted through translucent beads in the color crystal, as well as silver beads. The only color on this piece is found in the red feather, which she is wearing in her hair, and the blue tear. I chose to use minimal colors in order to represent how the Native women are unseen. The clear beads for the skin is a direct tie to this. The symbolism in the piece can be seen in the feather which  is a symbol commonly associated with Native Americans. Also, in Native culture, the feather is representative of strength, freedom, honor, and trust. Oftentimes the victims feel that they are robbed of their freedom and honor, which makes them feel degraded and dehumanized. Lastly, there is no trust in the government for persecuting the perpetrators of these crimes. The Indigenous women have no faith in the U.S. government because they feel inconspicuous and pushed to the back burner.