The Reclamation Project

Since the 1980s, Indigenous Americans have lost 98% of their historical homelands. The United States is now home to 574 federally recognized tribes, many are displaced, relocated or left with lands that are uninhabitable. Margeaux Abeyta’s ongoing project showcases fragments of Indigenous lands alongside the stories of tribal members from across the US. The documentation forms a record of their geological and social reality within the context of ownership issues, cultural preservation and environmental justice. Soil becomes an abstraction of identity and a way of reclaiming these lands and cultures as they fight to preserve their very existence.