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 sourced words using an online questionnaire to self-identified adult adoptees asking, “If you could choose any 3 words to describe your experience as an adoptee, which ones would you choose?” 252 people responded from 16 different countries generating 371 distinct words. On colored index cards I wrote their names (as they identified), countries, and their three words. In a performative 2-channel digital video, I play games of Memory using colored cards with the individual words illustrating the connections between responses and also the uniqueness of experiences paired with a visualization counting out each word via colored cards.
The project is ongoing… Are you an adult adoptee?
What are your three words?
Category
2D, Community, Video