Raised at the foothills of Iisaxpúatahchee Isawaxaawúua/Big Horn Mountains, JoRee (she/her) grew up with a twin sister on a gravel road next to the Little Bighorn River where they spent most of their time swimming, riding horses, gardening, and lacing up their Nike N7’s to play basketball on a dirt court with a rim that had a plywood backboard. JoRee’s Apsáalooke/Crow name is Iichiinmáatchileesh/Fortunate with Horses - which was given to her by Sue Takes Horse - and her English name is JoRee LaFrance. She left the reservation to attend Dartmouth College where she received a B.A. in Earth Sciences and B.A. in Native American Studies in 2017. After taking a year off between undergraduate and graduate school, JoRee returned home to work with the Crow Environmental Health Steering Committee which has been dedicated to environmental health literacy and addressing water quality issues on Apsáalooke lands. She is now an aspiring water scientist studying surface water quality in the Little Bighorn River watershed as a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Science at the University of Arizona. On top of her research, JoRee works as a consultant working on projects like the now traveling Apsáalooke Women and Warriors exhibit with the Field Museum and the University of Chicago Neubauer Collegium. She enjoys her heart work which is serving as a community advocate organizing events and workshops for women and youth in her community. Although she is away from home, JoRee continues to find ways to work with, empower, and support her people.
This photoessay captures the working lives of the Yellowtail family as they embody the ranching and cowboy livelihood, while weaving together values passed down by the generations. Keep reading
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