Throughout the post-colonial period, Native people have continuously been pushed to the margins of acknowledgment, whether being presented as a vanished race or not being native enough. The Shinnecock Portrait Project was inspired by this same idea, while looking at Google Street View of the Shinnecock Indian Reservation in Southampton, NY, there is no data available for the entire territory.

Whether that may be due to lack of permission or respect of a sovereign nation, the omission of documentation and representation leaves a gap nonetheless.