A visual essayOne possible life · 0–88

An illustrated timeline

The People
We Keep

A life traced through the people who come close, drift away, and sometimes find their way back.

Start at birth ↓
An ink drawing of people sharing a meal beneath a hanging lamp
Fig. 01   A table, at one moment in time
How to read the lines

The straight black line is you, the person whose life we’re following. Scroll down to get older. The nearer a colored line comes to yours, the closer that relationship feels. Both sides mean the same thing. Lines fade as contact dwindles. A thin red circle marks a death. Choose a relationship to follow its line, or tap a line as you scroll.

← FartherYou ↓Farther →
Closeness lines from birth to age 88