A DNA portrait reveals more than what you look likeby Marianne
Combs, Minnesota Public Radio Imagine a portrait that showed not
only what you look like, but where you came from hundreds of
generations ago through your unique genetic code. Minnesota
portrait artist Lynn Fellman's particular technique is both
revolutionary and evolutionary. St. Paul, Minn. — For most
portrait artists, work begins with a sitting or a photograph.
For artist Lynn Fellman, it begins with a cheek swab. "The first
thing I do is give you a lab kit. So you do a cheek swab, and it
takes the cells out of the inside of your mouth. Then we send
that to the lab," explains Fellman. If you're a woman, the
nonprofit genetics lab Fellman uses will send you back
information about your ancient family history through your X
chromosome, or maternal line. If you're a man, it reveals your
paternal genetic history through your Y chromosome. It tells you
when your ancestors first left eastern Africa tens of thousands
of years ago, and the journey they