It was a heated topic when I started to gather up everyone for this 2-day session. The news being inundated with talk of appropriation as well as a huge influx of people taking DNA tests. Needless to say, there was much irony revealed. When we all decided to do this, and honestly, it's nothing more than a very basic posed session. Some called it surface art having no depth or purpose. I've been called worse.
In a society where most live with a finger on the trigger pulling assumptions about a person based on what they can assess by skin-color, hair, style of clothing they wear, the way someone speaks; this 'simple' project captured the attention of few likely because the obvious flew over everyone's head.
At the time that these were originally shared I asked people to guess the race of each individual. Of course everyone answered 'human' and no one dared try guessing their actual heritage. The human part is most relevant. It is also beautiful to embrace the depth of our human evolution. There is no longer a pure 'race'. Since time began men and women have been cross-breeding, planting seeds of all creeds, tribes, clans & cultures. In fact, most are finding out that the reason cousin Jane was the only brunette amongst blondes wasn't due to a recessive gene but that grandma was human and procreated with a hot Spaniard. Who knew we'd have DNA tests?
Heritage represented below are Chinese, Scottish, Norwegian, Latin, Italian, Mexican, African, Filipino, and Irish, to name a few.
We All Bleed Red