Its very difficult not to be interested in one's lineage. As Barthes notes,

"Lineage reveals an identity stronger, more interesting than legal status - more reassuring as well, for the thought of origins soothes us, whereas that of the future disturbs us, agonizes us." (Barthes, 1993, p.105)

In our lineage we look for ourselves. Our bloody inheritance leaves its trace on our bodies, in our faces.

Perhaps because they most evidently mainfest the genetic essence of the familial line, photography and photographs play a central role in family history. Looking at a photograph of my grandfather, I look for details that may link him to me - the shape of the eyes and nose, a way of standing, a bearing. Holding an old photograph in my hands conjures not merely interest in the cultural traces it emanates - the paper, the format, the textures - but interest in the possibility that those photographed may once have held this very sheet of paper. The telegraphic properties of the photograph transmit the past into the present as I hold it in my hand.

"If my efforts are painful, if I am anguished, it is because sometimes I get closer, I am burning: in a certain photograph I believe I perceive the lineaments of truth. This is what happens when I judge a certain photograph 'a likeness'. Yet on thinking it over, I must ask myself: Who is like what? Resemblance is a conformity, but to what? to an identity. Now this identity is imprecise, even imaginary, to the point where I can continue to speak of 'likeness' without ever having seen the model." (Barthes, 1980, pp.101-102)