Raices Entrecruzadas /Tangled Roots

Raíces Entrecruzadas is an exploration of family resemblances across generations.  Juxtaposing portraits of my daughter Iara Aimé with mine, her fathers' and grandparents', many similarities with her Puerto Rican and Chilean families become apparent, bringing to light her African, Taino, Spanish and Mapuche ancestries.  Tracing back such a unusual family tree reveals more questions than answers: a freed African slave bearing a master's last name, a Mapuche native adopted by Chileans, Spanish immigrants of unknown origin, alleged Taino heritage...  Our faces become the true record of family history that we can rely on and our imagination, the answer for so many unanswered questions.

Technical Details:

Raíces Entrecruzadas is a digital project, created with Flash.  Twenty different portrait combinations of a child and two of her six closest relatives are revealed as the viewer clicks on a series of small icons that loop continuously across the bottom of the piece.  Additionally, family trees are superimposed when the viewer points over relatives' portraits.