These portraits are the first in a yearlong series in which I look back on my roots. In each portrait I take a single event or circumstance and craft it into an image of who I was at that time. By exposing my roots in this way, I invite myself to consider which elements of my past made me who I am today, asking myself what I want to honor and what I want to leave behind. This is a portrait of me amid the material remains of my unschooling, including belly dance costumes, Koine Greek, and the periodic table of elements I had to memorize. — Alexandra Ross