African genetic data translated into beadwork on our cover

Kelly Krause
Nature Visuals
Published in
3 min readOct 29, 2020

Although Africa is regarded as the cradle of modern humans, only a fraction of the genetic diversity among African individuals has been surveyed. In this week’s issue of Nature, the H3Africa Consortium help to redress this imbalance by presenting whole-genome sequence analyses of 426 individuals covering 50 ethnolinguistic groups, helping to refine understanding of migration across the African continent.

On the cover is a subset of the genetic data used in the study, translated into hand-loomed beaded necklaces by the Marigold beadwork cooperative in Zimbabwe. It’s a wonderful example of an art/science collaboration and we are fortunate to feature it along side the H3 Africa study.

Cover image: Beadwork by Nothando Bhebhe/Marigold beadwork cooperative in collaboration with Joni Brenner; Photography by Liz Whitter.

How did the beadwork originate? Here is the backstory:

Joni Brenner is from the Interdisciplinary Arts & Culture Studies department at the Wits School of Art in Johannesburg. She noticed her husband, one of the H3African Consortium team members, working with genomic data in the form of admixture plots (as can be seen in Fig 2a from the paper, below) and an idea came to her.

The image on the left is a data visualization commonly used in genetics called an admixture plot. (Figure 2 from the paper.)

This from Joni: “I have worked in collaboration with the Marigold beadwork co-operative for almost ten years, during which we have developed the necklaces, and occasionally created special project designs. We recently produced a range in collaboration with South African artist William Kentridge, and are about to launch new designs in response to the pandemic. But this art-science one is close to my heart because Scott Hazelhurst is my husband, and the idea to translate the structure plot to beadwork emerged from my admiration of the stunning patterns of their research graphs, maps and plots that I kept seeing on his screen!

I met with the beaders at Marigold, they are based in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, (where I was born and grew up); we looked at the structure plots together and discussed how they might be translated into beadwork. The design is based on admixture charts generated using a sub-set of the data used in the study. The charts for different k values were put together, for example red beads in different places correspond to the reds in the chart. The necklaces are a direct translation of population genetic structure in African populations.

The admixture chart (left) used as a source for the beadwork (right). Photo by Liz Whitter.

I believe each piece took over a week to make as the pattern was followed very specifically and meticulously. The hand-loomed highly individuated beadwork is a very tactile reminder of the humans abstractly represented by the data.”

Beadwork from the Marigold cooperative. Photo by Liz Whitter.

We were unable to get direct comments from the Marigold artists themselves for this post but understand they are pleased with the outcome of the project.

Thanks for reading.

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Nature Visuals
Nature Visuals

Published in Nature Visuals

Nature is the world’s leading scientific journal, publishing a range of content from peer-reviewed research to expert opinion and journalism. This blog is from the art/design/creative teams at Nature, providing insight into how we visually communicate scientific information.

Kelly Krause
Kelly Krause

Written by Kelly Krause

Kelly Krause is Creative Director for the international scientific journal Nature, where she leads a world-class team of creatives.

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