ECHO

Animated photographs | 3 min/loop | 2005

Segment of the animated fusion

Why am I what I am? Where does my appearance come from, where do my habits, my illnesses and preferences come from?

We are heirs to a chain of ancestors that goes back to the beginning of life. Science can trace our ancestors in our genes and make far-reaching statements about their origins and their legacy, some of which is alive through us today.

 


With this photo animation, the last links in a chain of female persons in a line of ancestors are connected by means of the images that have been preserved of them. Just as the genes keep merging through reproduction to form new links, so too do the portraits merge with each other and become, in their entirety, a new portrait in their own right.
In the animation, one face alternately emerges dominantly from the fused mass over time. The animation is based on 13 individual portraits of my ancestors from 6 generations – the last visible links in the chain of ancestors.

Further samples of the joins
Further samples of the joins