At the age of 23 I flew all over Africa in six-seat prop planes in an attempt to better understand the African American students I was teaching in a Chicago high school. Upon my return from Africa, I became involved with community organization in Chicago’s Black ghetto. That work soon morphed into launching grassroots empowerment projects in remote villages around the world. After continually bumping into cross-cultural similarities, a bell went off when I learned of Mitochondrial Eve, the one woman in East Africa from whom every human alive has descended.

Maiden Migrations is Part I of Eve’s Imprint, a two dimensional and three dimensional mixed media installation that traces our human migration from East Africa to all parts of the world. The installation invites people to explore their own ancestry, migration as a timeless reality, and human impact leading to extinctions and climate change. Maiden Migrations presents Homo sapiens’ origins in Africa and subsequent migrations into the Arabian Peninsula and Southwest Asia, Ancient Near East, and Southeast Asia/Oceania. My own ancestral journey provides a link from the present back to these ancient migrations. Artwork is rooted in deeply personal experiences with our world’s cultures, my own DNA-based ancestral journey, genetic science, and cultural research.

Maiden Migrations includes over thirty original art works, including mixed media paintings, kinetic sculptures, digitized and actual sketchbooks, narrative panels that connect the viewer to the artwork, and an audio walk through of the artwork. By incorporating ancient and contemporary maps and navigation tools, it reminds viewers that our images of the world have been in constant flux as experience has expanded our knowledge. With current issues of migration and unrest in the Middle East, Maiden Migrations invites dialogue and reflection.

Maiden Migrations Installation requires sixty feet (60′) of wall space; four corners would be helpful for hanging pieces and walking sticks. Images of Maiden Migrations can be viewed by clicking each tab under the header or each link below:

African Origins
Southwest Asia
Ancient Near East
Southeast Asia/Oceania
My Ancestral Journey

You will find writings about this project under the Maiden Migrations Narration tab. To see Ancient Near East in Process go to Recent Work.

Maiden Migrations Installation offers opportunities for viewer interaction.
Viewers can design …
• A floating device the first migrants might have used to cross the Gulf of Aden.
• Decoration for a personal African walking stick.
• Maps of big or small journeys they have taken using non-traditional materials such as beads, twigs, string, clay, etc.

The local arts community, educators and students can stage and/or attend …
• A migrations festival presenting films such as The Real Eve, The Genographic Project, and Paul Salopek’s multi-year Out of Eden walk.
• Story telling, poetry, or reading events about these topics and places.
• Indigenous musical events such as African drumming, Indian sitar, or Indonesian gamelan.

Attendees can give input by …
• Listing endangered species and places near artworks that feature the threatened Bengal tiger and disappearing Maldives.
• Naming navigation tools they currently use in response to the Celestial Guidance mobile or Ecosystems Stick Chart.