Reservation Mathematics: Navigating Love in Native America
montana • Tailyr Irvine
From the 2021-2022 We, Women nationwide exhibit.
About the project
In the universal struggle to find a life partner, Reservation Mathematics: Navigating Love in Native America looks at how generations of young Native Americans have faced a burden put upon them long before they were born. In 1934, the U.S. Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act, a law established to bolster tribal authority on their own lands.
It dictated that individuals must have a certain fraction of Indian blood, or blood quantum, to enroll as a member of that tribe. Blood quantum is determined by the amount of Indian blood of a person’s ancestors. For example, if someone had one parent who was full-blooded and one who was non-Native, that person would have a blood quantum of ½.
Native Americans who want their children to be legal, enrolled tribal members must choose a partner with enough of their tribe’s blood. This system is unsustainable—if these requirements are maintained, tribes will cease to exist.
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About the Artist
Tailyr Irvine is a photojournalist from the Flathead Reservation in Montana. Her work focuses on challenging stereotypical narratives with photos that provide deeper representation of the lives and the complex issues within the diverse communities that make up Native America. Tailyr worked at the Dallas Morning News and Tampa Bay Times before beginning her career as an independent journalist.