Why was I exiled…, uprooted…, rejected…, otherized…?
Conversations around adoption can emerge out of self-doubt and unknown loss. What if…? Who were they…? Why couldn’t I stay?
Adoptees who survive often create personal spaces filled with objects that align their fragmented histories.
I existed in these women's homes and they allowed me to use my lens to explore the objects or spaces affirming their adult identities.
This project was born from a personal place. Photographing the adoptees and learning their stories ultimately brought me more acceptance of my own identity.
One conversation is not sufficient; these images are a first conversation. Photographing these women as well as hearing their stories ultimately brought me closer to my story and started to fill the holes. With each image, I began answering questions that I had long traveled with. These images present one step toward a more public conversation on experiences of “Otherhood.”
