To Look Native
In her book “You don’t Look Native to Me”, photographer Maria Sturm engages with issues of identity and representation, working with members of the Lumbee Tribe in North Carolina.
The photographer chose to work with a tribal group whose status remains one of the most debated in the United States, being state-recognized but lacking federal recognition, a reservation, and any governmental benefits. The title of the book refers to a comment often heard by the people she photographed, coming from those who expect their appearance to cling to visual stereotypes.
“My work engages an unfamiliar mix of concepts: a tribe whose members are ignored by the outside world, who do not wear their otherness on their physique, but who are firm in their identity.”
