Being Adopted
Being Adopted documents the nuanced emotions and experiences of adult adoptees. The narrative spewed by mainstream society says that adoptees are “lucky” or “saved.” This may or may not be the case, but what is always the case is that every adoption begins with a loss, that of maternal separation, and that every adoptee experience is absolutely unique.
Over November and December of 2019, I used email and social media to crowdsource words that adoptees use to describe their personal experiences. The question, seemingly simple is:
Fellow adoptee, if you could choose any 3 words to describe your experience as an adoptee, which ones would you choose?
adopted, adoptee, adult adoptee, Nicole Rademacher, adoptee Nicole Rademacher, being adopted
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Being Adopted
Being Adopted is a three-part project exploring the emotional landscape of adult adoptees through crowdsourced words and a 2-channel video. An online questionnaire asked adult adoptees to choose three words to describe their adoption experience. 253 people from 16 countries responded, generating 372 unique words. These were transcribed onto colored index cards, forming a physical archive. The resulting 2-channel video presents these words through both structured counting and a game of memory, creating visual tension between statistical collection and emotional resonance. By transforming personal testimony into tangible artifacts, the work renders visible an often-overlooked community while highlighting both shared experiences and individual perspectives.
The project is ongoing… Are you an adult adoptee?
What are your three words?
Category
2D, Community, Video
