Bloodline
Photograph
24 x 35 1/2
2020
I began considering the literalness of family and how we define who constitutes family. My mother always told me I was the product of two families and couldn’t have been the same without that unionization. I wanted to tease out the associations of heritage being a blend. I created a photographic series called Bloodline (Fig. ) in which a quarter inch line was tattooed with nothing but my blood from the top of my right middle finger, up my arm, across my chest, and down my left arm to my finger tip. I am emphasizing the idea of a bloodline that runs through me bringing it to the surface of my skin as a statement of connection and familial ties. Tattooing was an important process as it is a way of mark making and a form of identity declaration. In the case of my tattoo, since it was created with no ink and was only created with my blood, it faded away slowly returning to the skin. The temporary quality is important for this work because I wanted to utilize only my blood to discuss the significance that blood is our life source. Blood is one of the most precious substances we create as it functions to bring vital nutrients across the body. Similarities can be drawn to how family members often support one another and bring vital care to each other. Blood also carries valuable genetic information that separates your own from everyone. If my blood were tested to cross reference for genetic similarities, it would only point to my birth family.
The line draws along to contours of my body, connecting my hands visually, unionizing sections of myself as I am concatenating two bloodlines. The full circle moment of adoption is that acceptance that bloodlines fall into two family trees as adoptees have a place in both and are significant. I have always been fascinated with human obsession of heritage and I’ve come to realize through my thesis work that it is the pursuit of understanding where we come from. Human nature is finding a place of belonging and I’m beginning to understand that more through the method of creating art and building a relationship with my birth family. It is a long process to find resolution on a borderline.