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The background illustrates a particular ocean view from Independence Park in Beverly. On the left is Beverly’s Lynch Park, and on the right is the Salem Willows. In the foreground, there are some colorful root systems weaving over and under each other. The blue roots might be recognizable as a map of Massachusetts highways.
The purple and red roots represent my mother’s and father’s roots, respectively, connecting various points where they (and even their parents) each had resided and spent their time. It also stretches in the directions of their, and my, heritage, in Europe, Canada, and the Caribbean.
The pink root system represents my roots. It connects the points where I’ve lived, worked, and spent my time and energy.

I learned a lot during this project. While researching tree roots, I learned that redwood trees, although famously large, do not have particularly deep roots. Instead, they spread very wide, sometimes reaching over 100 feet. They also weave between, over, and under the roots of other redwoods. They rely on each other for their strength, similarly to how we can rely on our families and social networks for support and strength. After learning this, I made the choice to tangle the four different root systems.
I also learned some things about my own roots during this project. While reaching out to family members and doing some digging, I learned about some of my heritage which I hadn’t heard about before.