Paula Kuitenbrouwer

Are you enjoying your DNA discovery? Have you had your ancestral DNA analyzed and you like to have a portrait of you and your ‘Ancestral DNA’? I understand, because I fancied that myself and drew a DNA portrait.

I drew a self-portrait incorporating my DNA story adding symbols and patterns inspired by the heritage percentages that Ancestry.com had analyzed for me. I turned the regional percentages into late medieval cultures.

Do you notice the old Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, and Viking styles and patterns put together in a Medieval setting? The decorative border of my self-portrait shows the Oseberg Viking ship with shields showing geometric patterns, an eagle, and the two ravens of Odin (Hugin & Munin representing ‘memory’ & ‘thought’). There are old Germanic embroidery flower patterns, three old German Owls (decorative doves) representing my husband, my daughter, and me. Last, at the top, wonderful Anglo-Saxon roundels with animals (ox, peacock, goose, and a griffin and a lion like animal).

I filled my border with my baptismal names and surnames, and two Latin quotes. ‘Ars Longa, Vita Brevis‘ loosely translates as it takes long to make art and life is short, or as art has a long life but life is short. ‘Laboro et Oro‘ means work & pray. Had I been a nun, I would have used Oro et Laboro, but being a wife and mother, work comes first and meditation later. Between the quotes, I have a woven structure connecting the quotes and representing the DNA helix.

My self-portrait shows gratitude to an unknown ancestor who instilled in me a love for drawing and painting. There are more painters in my family, like M.A. Kuytenbrouwer jr. and sr. but they are from a different family-tree branch. We must have an unknown ancestor in common and I make him or her visible in an invisible way. In my drawing, I sit working in my room, but he/she enters, and I look him/her straight in his/her eyes. He/she stays invisible. Why? Because I will never know who he/she was because he/she lived to far back in time.

Is this fantasy? Yes and no. The elements are geographical and cultural, but yes, the whole setting is -of course- fictional. In this DNA portrait, I have assembled all things inherited from my ancestors, but most prominently I express my love for painting and drawing which I have inherited from an unknown ancestor that I had in common with painter M.A. Kuytenbrouwer I (1777-1850 Lieutenant Colonel & painter), and his son M.A. Kuytenbrouwer II, (1821-1897, court painter of Napoleon III).

Is this a portrait? Yes and no. Of course, my drawing shows a person set in an environment that expresses ancestral and cultural influences. It tells a story of one’s DNA. However, it is not a portrait like a portrait painted by a portrait painter. For a traditional portrait, one needs to find another artist, preferably a local artist because painting a portrait demands sitting time, not only for measurements and composition, but also for reference photos.

Who am I?

That question is answered differently by different disciplines. Materialist think we are just brains with neurological and hormonal responses, in bodies with a lot of water, and we are hosts to many viruses and bacteria, and we die when our heart stops beating. (Boring!)

Less materialist ideas are far more attractive and tell us we are deeply related to our ancestors and our past. Sociologists, anthropologists, and psychologists point to our relation with our social environment and cultural upbringing. Religions find that we are ‘children of God’ meaning we are a creation by a creator. DNA scientists think we are more nature than nurture; nurture being our societal-cultural upbringing and nature our DNA profile. Maybe there is agreement that we all are stardust.

Who are we? This question is about looking into our recent or deep past, whether from a religious, social, or ancestral point of view. Celebrating your DNA means celebrating where we come from in many ways; not only our ancestors but also their environments, cultures, and religions and that we are a rather unique mix if you couple that with the influences of your upbringing and self gained wisdom.

“I would like a DNA portrait because I like to show how my ancestors shine through me, how they have shaped me”.

My Portrait

In my portrait, I am sitting in a corner of a Great Hall of a Manor House of the 15th century and I am working on a large canvas but I make eye contact with the person painting me. In the background (my) artworks are on display and there is a medieval treasure box which stores my diaries telling my life story.

I use the light which comes from a came glass work window; wooden buttresses create perspective. My dress is late Medieval or early Renaissance, and honestly demands me to say that it is a stretch from the jeans and woolen jumpers that I prefer to wear when I am at work. The large manor house is also more of a dream for my next life than a representation of my current one (who says you can’t reincarnate back in time? 😉

For the portrait, I have aged myself because I hope to paint until an advanced age.

Why a DNA portrait?

First of all, because it offers a fun time to mix facts and imagination. But also because I will waive copyright, which enables you to make a photo of your portrait and use it to print bookmarks, name cards, postcards, anniversary invitations, and you can also store it along with your testament.

Your ancestral DNA might receive an update over time (the more people test their ancestral DNA, the more refined the results become). This, however, doesn’t imply you should postpone your commission. First of all, one has a keen sense of which percentages are surprising (and might change) and which you already ‘knew’ (due to knowing your grandparent’s life story, studying family names, and your love for specific cultures and regions).

I will incorporate different cultures in your portrait (we will discuss this thoroughly) as a mix, with no specific heritage percentage dominating (unless on request). Whether you are 40% or 80% West European or 20%-50% Asian, when it comes to a lovely portrait it is about expressing textures, patterns and clever ways as a mix of cultures in a harmonious way. Should any heritage percentage somewhat increase or decrease a few years from now, this will not affect the relevance of your portrait.

Contact me freely to discuss your DNA portrait. Have a look at my shop for a price indication. I offer memorial and also symbolic character portraits. See here.

Paula Kuitenbrouwer

Commission artist living in Utrecht, Netherlands

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