Chrissy Fitchett is a photographer whose work investigates matriliny (the study of a family’s descent through women, rather than matriarchy, which connotates power structures) throughout disparate cultures. Fitchett’s photographs pay notice to women, their work, and the spaces in which they have constructed their lives. More broadly, her work examines family structures, generational knowledge transfer, and issues of political and social marginalization, such as forced migration and gender inequity. An early series focuses on child-rearing and female identity in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal where rapid political and social transformations are affecting women’s access to education and economic agency. Her more recent series explores narratives of permanence and transformation of the constructed and natural landscape on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. This work considers the presence of life cycles and their intersections with real and imagined histories, keeping an open mind toward fabricated narratives.