We all have an ancestry whether it is known or not. As the song that Julie Andrews and Christopher Plumber sing in “Sound of Music,” nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could. The idea of lineage is something that has existed since the beginning of time. The Bible speaks of “begetting” and the line ----- to describe generations, families, heritage and a beginning.
Although in our every day lives we may not have on the forefront of our minds that we are part of a heritage and a line that began at some point long, long ago, we are. With that are the characteristics that make us similar – the shape of your eyes, a distinctive nose or the unmistakable laugh that you share as blood. This sets you apart, makes you a family, and bonds you in ways that are obvious and not so much like how you can finish a sentence or be thinking the same thing.
The idea of being in a line of human existence and sharing blood for generations is humbling and baffling to be part of the speck of humanity for a blink of time. You probably know where you came from back maybe two or three generations and then it becomes blurry... What was their story, their pain, how they laughed or what color was her eyes…the same hazel with flecks of brown and blue like your mothers?
So, I wanted to create my lineage in photos like a gallery to display with pride the heritage that makes me. One part Danish, a dash of French, a proud eighth Jewish, some jolly good English and smidge of this or that though I am not quite sure what. It is what made me travel to Auschwitz to feel the pride and sorrow of a people I came from who suffered atrocities, it is what made me want to learn French to let the awkward, musical words that were probably spoken by some of my ancestors fall off my tongue and it is what makes me smile when I remember my Danish grandmother whose own mother made a life for herself as a pioneer in a small town in Iowa not speaking a word of English and her name was Anna and she was beautiful and thrifty and misunderstood.
So, here it is – a beautiful tapestry of faces that tell a story in twinkling eyes, crooked smiles, wrinkled brows – a story of the family whom I love.
The idea of being in a line of human existence and sharing blood for generations is humbling and baffling to be part of the speck of humanity for a blink of time. You probably know where you came from back maybe two or three generations and then it becomes blurry... What was their story, their pain, how they laughed or what color was her eyes…the same hazel with flecks of brown and blue like your mothers?
So, I wanted to create my lineage in photos like a gallery to display with pride the heritage that makes me. One part Danish, a dash of French, a proud eighth Jewish, some jolly good English and smidge of this or that though I am not quite sure what. It is what made me travel to Auschwitz to feel the pride and sorrow of a people I came from who suffered atrocities, it is what made me want to learn French to let the awkward, musical words that were probably spoken by some of my ancestors fall off my tongue and it is what makes me smile when I remember my Danish grandmother whose own mother made a life for herself as a pioneer in a small town in Iowa not speaking a word of English and her name was Anna and she was beautiful and thrifty and misunderstood.
So, here it is – a beautiful tapestry of faces that tell a story in twinkling eyes, crooked smiles, wrinkled brows – a story of the family whom I love.
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