Pictures

Artist’s Side-By-Side ‘Genetic Portraits’ Show How Powerful Our Connections To Previous Generations Are

Ulric Collette, a photographer and designer from Quebec City, Canada, has created a fascinating project that deals with questions about identity, genetics, and family. 

Collette uses Photoshop to create these amazing side-by-side portraits of the faces of two relatives melded together, which he posts on his Instagram account, @geneticportraits. 

His work attempts to answer questions about the role genetics plays in our physical appearances. 

He’s used grandparents, parents, and their children, as well as siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles. 

The result is these captivating portraits that show the incredible power of our genes. 

In some of the pictures, it’s honestly hard to tell that two different people are being shown in one face. 

The idea of melding the faces of people who are related came to him when he was photoshopping his own son’s image, according to Bored Panda. 

“I started doing this genetic series in 2008 while doing a photo per day challenge,” Collette told Bored Panda. “I had made a lot of self portraiture at the time, and made the first one of me and my 7 year old son a little bit by accident while trying something really different in photoshop.”

“I published it on Flickr at the time and the response was great so I decided to try it out with other people, family and friends at first and so on… The project went viral a few time since then,” he continued. 

His work has made it into exhibits around the world, and it’s been featured in a few art books and magazines, Collette revealed. 

You can currently find his pictures displayed at the Transportation Mall Photography Exhibit at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta.

While working on the project, Collette says that he’s learned “a few generic facts on genetics…but really had no way to prove anything.” Like, for example, he mentioned that he’s been told that “daughters tend to look a lot like their grandmother from the father’s side of the family.” 

You can check out all of Collette’s “genetic portrait” photographs on Instagram. 

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Dean Altman

Dean Altman is a writer living in NYC.