Thorns of Lifelines
Digital Print
2021
This image is made from individual curve segments, where the distances between the endpoints in each of the segments are randomly drawn from a distribution of ages at the time of death in the USA during 2007, resulting in a rough visual representation of the lengths of lives.
This image uses 1000 linear lifelines placed along vertical lines topped with a curve that represents a thorn.
The viewer is invited to reflect on the question How many thorns do I present to others?
Background and Inspiration
I first explored the idea of using curves of random length to represent lives for the December 2019 issue of Mathematics Magazine. This is another image in that series.