Matriarchal Line traces Valerie Atkisson’s mother’s mother and her mother and so on, back ten generations to England. The flowers represent the children each mother had (red for girls, blue for boys). The landscape they lived in, portraits and stories appear on the timeline of these generations of mothers.
![Matriarchal Line, Acrylic, ink on wall, 12 x 5 feet, 1999 Installation Bronx Museum of the Arts](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/600b2bfc4b467f6cbaa6cd2e/1611636825274-PFL64H0ZOYGD86HY7D0W/ML.jpg)
Matriarchal Line, Acrylic, ink on wall, 12 x 5 feet, 1999 Installation Bronx Museum of the Arts
![Matriarchal Line (detail) bottom - me](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/600b2bfc4b467f6cbaa6cd2e/1611636831145-FGGBBMFVOOXT763HOB38/mlme.jpg)
Matriarchal Line (detail) bottom - me
![Matriarchal Line (detail) Mid - Grandmother](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/600b2bfc4b467f6cbaa6cd2e/1611636829809-EU3AB0ZUL6NWEDB5ZO2M/mlgrma.jpg)
Matriarchal Line (detail) Mid - Grandmother
![Matriarchal Line (detail) Great grandmother's house and great-great grandmother](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/600b2bfc4b467f6cbaa6cd2e/1611636829682-SM7BXUOHCZ4F3K7JP158/mlhouse.jpg)
Matriarchal Line (detail) Great grandmother's house and great-great grandmother