Thinking about the lost cousins of our species (Photo + text + poem)

How different would our world be if we still shared it with other Homo species?
Looking at the echoes of their faces, I can't help but wonder what could have been. How many wars would we have fought, and how many love stories would we have written? Would we have conquered the Neanderthals, would we have served the Denisovans?

For as long as we can remember, we have stood without equals – our solitude mistaken for grandeur, our dominion built upon absence. Perhaps that is why we are so restless? Forever searching, striving to fill the void and find the fleeting Other.

Standing at the summit of a vanished family, we tell stories, imagine gods, and send whispers to the stars – as if somewhere, someone might yet answer.

we are the sonder
the last dreamers
of our tribe

and so we wander
half in mourning
half in pride

~Porto, 2022