Betty Cooper is an Elder in the Blackfeet Indian Tribe. She teaches at the Heart Butte High School located on the Blackfeet Reservation in Heart Butte, Montana, where she can spend time passing her knowledge onto the upcoming generations of the tribe.
Betty puts on her warbonnet which contains eagle feathers. When she travels she puts her permit to own eagle feathers inside the warbonnet to keep it safe.
Betty's great-great-grandmother was photographed by Edward Curtis. In the photograph, Two Bear Woman, Betty's great-great-grandmother is wrapped in a big light-colored wool shall. Betty brought out her white shall so she could resemble Two Bear Woman in some of her photos.
Unvanished is a project aimed at showing Native Americans in context with the 21st century. It is to show Native Americans in the way they want to be seen, not necessarily how others perceive them. Unvanished was put together thoughtfully by Torsten Kjellstrand and will include the work of a variety of other photographers. It will continue for a long time to come, and I intend to contribute as many mindful photographs as possible while the collection grows.