The sky broke when I was allowed to fly. / Se rompió el cielo cuando me dejaron volar. asks who is authorized to claim a story, construct a history, call something theirs. Developed and produced over three years by Nicole Rademacher — a Latina transracial adoptee, multidisciplinary artist, and board certified art therapist — the exhibition draws on family archive, research trips to Monterrey (hometown of her birth father), and the experience of claiming a culture that was never hers, withheld by the structure of adoption itself. The work spans a 16-channel video installation projected across suspended vellum screens, porcelain ceramics, erasure drawings, single-channel video of a family gathering in Monterrey, and an installation of veladoras at various stages of burn.
The day after opening, the exhibition extends into aún sin título — a five-hour experience co-presented with transdisciplinary artist traci kato-kiriyama. Participants bring their own fragments — photographs, letters, objects, memories — and make work. Their work is installed and integrated into the exhibition for the remainder of the run. The show shifts from one story to many.
Opening reception: Saturday, May 16, 5-7pm
LA Artcore | May 16 – June 15, 2026
aún sin título
(Space is limited. Learn more and apply via LA Artcore)
Sunday, May 17 | 1–6pm
The sky broke when I was allowed to fly. is supported by an Individual Artist Fellowship from the California Arts Council, a grant from Adoptees for Awareness, and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.