Several years ago, British artist and photographer Marcus Lyon approached Cathy Kimball — then executive director at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art — about exhibiting his “human atlas” project called “Somos Brasil.” Kimball thought about it and then presented him with a challenge: How about doing a similar project about the people of Silicon Valley?

That started a four-year journey that led to “De.Coded: A Human Atlas of Silicon Valley,” which explores 101 Bay Area residents through portraits, interviews and an analysis of their birthplaces and ancestral DNA. It’s presented in a weighty book — available to purchase at Books Inc. in Mountain View. But it’s also available online (ahumanatlas.com/artworks/de-coded) where visitors can view the portraits, look at the data and hear the stories of the “decoders,” as Lyon calls them, in their own words.

“A human atlas we like to think of as a social impact art platform, a place for stories to be told, through oral histories, portraits and ancestral DNA,” Lyon said at last month’s launch event for “De.Coded” at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose. “But most importantly to inspire the next generation. We like the idea that we don’t stand in the shadows of the people who are in this room. We stand on their shoulders.”

Artist and photographer Marcus Lyon, right, poses with Athena Camps founder Aby Brayton Ryan, who is featured in the "De.Coded" project at its unveiling celebration at the Mexican Heritage Plaza on Oct. 28, 2023. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)
Artist and photographer Marcus Lyon, right, poses with Athena Camps founder Aby Brayton Ryan, who is featured in the “De.Coded” project at its unveiling celebration at the Mexican Heritage Plaza on Oct. 28, 2023. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group) 

The process to create “De.Coded” took place as we were coming out of the worst part of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Lyon said he found people were very open to being interviewed, creating a human connection that some had gone without for a while.

The Decoders featured in the book include some very recognizable names like playwright Luis Valdez, former San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales, developer John A. Sobrato and former Santa Clara County Supervisor Blanca Alvarado, Destination: Home Executive Director Jen Loving and journalist Jose Antonio Vargas. But it really digs deeper, with educators, firefighters, artists, musicians and priests — covering the spectrum of ethnicities, sexual orientation and age.

Artist and photographer Marcus Lyon talks about "De.Coded," a human atlas of Silicon Valley, at the project's unveiling at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Oct. 28, 2023. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)
Artist and photographer Marcus Lyon talks about “De.Coded,” a human atlas of Silicon Valley, at the project’s unveiling at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Oct. 28, 2023. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group) 

“I’m kind of humbled by everybody. But I think what was beautiful here was this mosaic, this story of migration. Journeys from everywhere,” Lyon said, adding that he was most moved by the Chicano “sweat and blood” that built much of the valley. “The indigenous and Latino/Chicano culture that permeates this valley, that underpins so much of the stuff that is possible. That was the big story I took away.”

But the beauty of the project is that there are incredible stories to discover on every page. It’s arranged chronologically, with portraits and data on the youngest people first — ages are represented by rings on the page, like you’d find on a tree.

The oldest Decoder is Mary Silveira Ristroph, who will be 105 in December. She’s lived in the same house in Santa Clara since 1949, when Lawrence Expressway was known as Lawrence Station Road. Her interview on the website talks about a childhood filled with work on the family’s dairy farm. “I was required to take care of my brother and sister, and do the cooking and washing at 9 years old,” she says. “So there was no time for reading books or anything on the farm.”

Marie Bernard, executive director of Sunnyvale Community Services, was another person nominated and selected to be in the book — much to her surprise. “I never imagined being in such a project,” she said. “Marcus Lyon, the artist and producer, focused his camera and his listening heart to capture the fabric of our unique region in the world.”

People featured in the "De.Coded" project were presented with unique name badges that reflected their ancestral DNA at the project's unveiling on Oct. 28, 2023. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)
People featured in the “De.Coded” project were presented with unique name badges that reflected their ancestral DNA at the project’s unveiling on Oct. 28, 2023. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group) 

The geographical range of the Decoders stretch as far away as Oakland and Gilroy, which Lyon said was indicative of Silicon Valley’s status as a concept not a geographic place, unlike all his previous atlases which covered Brazil, Germany and Detroit. “We discovered we had this opportunity to tell a story that was literally defined by the people in the project,” he said.

The project was largely funded through the Packard Foundation and through individual donors, many of whom attended the launch event on Oct. 28. And, naturally for something involving Silicon Valley, the book contains some Easter eggs. The front and back covers include an image of a print Lyon made from a giant Sequoia stump, aligning with the “rings” theme on the pages within. He made an adjustment to the natural cut in the stump, though, tweaking it to look like San Francisco Bay, with two bridges crossing it. And the number of people chosen for the project — 101 — represents both binary code and the freeway that runs through the valley.

"De.Coded" curator Cathy Kimball and photographer and artist Marcus Lyon pose together at the project's unveiling at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Oct. 28, 2023. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)
“De.Coded” curator Cathy Kimball and photographer and artist Marcus Lyon pose together at the project’s unveiling at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Oct. 28, 2023. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group) 

Lyon said the Packard Foundation has provided a grant to create a podcast for “De.Coded,” which he estimates will take about a year-and-a-half to produce. In the meantime, he hopes that people are called to action by the stories contained on the website and in the book.

“Our vision is to create social change that’s inspired by art, science and storytelling,” he said. “What we really hope is to inspire a new generation of change agents, who are able to be inspired by these remarkable people and their resilience and passion for their fellow human.”

Kimball, who now lives in Washington state but has remained a strong part of the project from start to finish, said while Lyon was the artist behind “De.Coded,” it’s the people in it who make it what it is.

“He’s not telling the story of Silicon Valley,” she said. “Silicon Valley is telling its own story through them.”