Learnings from Ancestral Lines

Two things about my recent show, Ancestral Lines, pushed me to take a step closer to installation or site-specific art. First, the gallery space was unique. Two walls were primarily windows onto busy streets. A third wall was brick. A hallway entrance, metal vault, and air vent interrupted the fourth wall. A post stood in the center of the room.

Secondly, my Children of Eve paintings contain multi-sensory elements: bone beads, sand, sticks, twigs, matches, and textured surfaces. They point to events that happened hundreds, thousands, and even millions of years ago. It seemed to me that invoking a massive time warp requires an immersive environment.

Using the long hallway into the gallery to set a mood, I hung mounted copies of photographs of ancient awe-inspiring cave art. These were from the 2001 August issue of National Geographic on Chauvet Cave in France. I placed books and DVDs on genetic research in an alcove, along with an animal bone and a historical timeline of human evolution and migration patterns from 2 million to 10,000 years ago. 

To create a sense of timelessness, I placed natural elements on clear acrylic pedestals arranged around the post in the gallery.

One pedestal held items related to the sea, another had stones and pebbles. Beneath a third was a pile of dirt and on top were two stick of cedar wood. Human touches included one of my self-box collages, an African reed mat mounted on the post, and information about tracing your DNA journey.  

To add to the sense of our connection to nature and antiquity, I hung animal bones on the brick wall between Children of Eve paintings. I placed a bromeliad plant with brilliant red foliage on a clear acrylic pedestal near one of the large windows, setting up a tension between the busy street and nature.

I began telling the story of our ancient origins in Africa by placing placards under each of the Children of Eve paintings. I was delighted that both kids and adults took time to read the story.

Although the intent was to give a sneak preview of my emerging Children of Eve series, there were other paintings in the show. A red cord strung around the walls, representing Kazantzakis’s crimson line (the human evolutionary journey) connected all of the artwork, emphasizing the show’s theme. A mounted quote from Kazantzakis marked the beginning of the red string. A cloth hung in front of the vault served as a backdrop for a show poster and my artist statement.

So much more could have been done. I am already thinking of how to integrate interactive elements, ceiling, floor, and multimedia into future exhibitions of Children of Eve. I welcome your feedback and suggestions on ways to develop a total experience of our origins deep in the heart of Africa.

Photographs 1-5, 7-9 by Mikayle Stole Anderson

Photograph 6 by Sharry Lachman

Ancestral Lines

Where do we come from? This is probably people’s second most-asked question; the first being, who am I? Poets, theologians, philosophers, scientists and ordinary folks are all equally curious about our human origins. How did we get to be the way we are?

In Ancestral Lines, I visually explore the agreement reached by contemporary archeologists and genetic scientists that modern Homo sapiens originated in East Africa. My fascination with this point of view has deep roots.

In 1988, Newsweek had an article on Rebecca Cahn’s genetic research - DNA studies showing that we have a common ancient mother, Mitochondrial Eve, who lived in East Africa around 170,000 years ago. All of us - regardless of skin color, facial characteristics, ethnic culture, or linguistic expression - can trace our mitochondrial DNA (our maternal line) back to this one woman.

Time magazine reported around 1990 that archeologists had found four sets of footprints in molten lava in East Africa, two large sets and two small ones; presumably this was a family of two parents and two children fleeing a volcanic eruption. What were the relationships and destiny of this small group of humans?

A National Geographic article, “France’s Magical Ice Age Art: Chauvet Cave,” became my muse in the year 2000. Its stunning photographs of cave art inspired my first intentional series of paintings, called Stone Age. Stone Age was followed by other series that culminated in 2008 with Pilgrimage, paintings based on my experiences in cultures around the world.

By 2010, I was groping my way toward a new series about our one Black mother when I heard about National Geographic’s  “genographic project” – a research effort that allows any human being to do a DNA test to reveal the migratory route our ancestors took from East Africa to some part of the world. I knew instantly, “This is the entry point for which I’ve been searching. My new series will be called The Children of Eve.”

In Ancestral Lines, one set of paintings takes an archeological perspective: imagining some of the cultural preoccupations and artifacts of early humans. Another set of paintings takes the perspective of genetic research: translating abstract concepts into visual symbolic representations.

Both perspectives are held in tension by the image of “the crimson line,” a phrase coined by Nikos Kazantzakis. To me it means, “You, me, and every person who has ever lived have a common heritage that is carried in our blood. We trace a crimson line through history, all the way back to one Black woman in East Africa.“

I find great meaning in knowing that I am connected to the artists of Chauvet Cave, to a family fleeing a volcanic eruption in East Africa, and to Mitochondrial Eve.