The study of evolution and DNA has been a fascinating topic to me since high school. All living things have one common ancestor (LUCA)— hypothesized to be a single celled organism around the time when life on Earth first began. Likewise, all living humans have a common human ancestor. The common female ancestor from 200,000 years ago is referred to as “mitochondrial Eve.” That is to say we all share DNA with this individual. There were other humans alive at the time, of course, but she is the only one from that time period whose offspring survived to reproduce to present day. The human species almost went extinct, but somehow we survived.
With all this thinking about ancestry, and going off on a tangent, I thought how interesting it would be if I could track every generation of women in my family. As is my style, I like to mix scientific topics with art whenever possible. The result is the Grandmothers Project. I am working on finding some photos of my female ancestors, and I am mirroring my image next to theirs, superimposing my face onto the image. This is what I have so far. Here we have Sophia Winn and Cynthia Fields. More to come!
Edited on July 18–Added Great-great grandmother Sarah Kirk.
