JJ Kid Art

Family trees are graphically misleading. Just like the maps that necessarily distort the relative size of countries in order to faithfully represent their shape, a family tree that shows a clear beginning and a discreet set of branches serves to distort what a family is.

Because in fact no one can be at the head or the foot of a family. And we’re really all at the center of our own families, our own lives. And just like the spin paint art, they end up being circular, and messy, and centrifugal. Some are neater than others. Some are tighter and more refined than others. Some have less color than others.

Yes, we are given certain paints with certain DNA and characteristics when we’re born. And the grandchildren of Jack O’Neil have his, necessarily, inescapably. And that of their grandmothers and parents and all ancestors. And we will all choose what we’ll do with this stuff. And who we’ll add, and choose to love, and include in our art.

And all of it is finite. Eventually the mechanism slows and stops spinning, eventually we run out of paint. And when we do, we’ll take stock of the families we’ve built, and that will be all we’ll have.

Thank you, from your grandchildren, for what you’ve done to help their art.