This series of work is inspired by my identity as an adoptee and the journey of meeting my birth family. Reunification was a process full of the strange and familiar, every conversation was both comforting and dangerous. Building a relationship with these intimate strangers, my first family, was profoundly impactful on me. Every word, every message acted as a portal - giving me a glimpse into a world that I would never truly know.

In the US, adoption is often portrayed as a "beautiful" method to create a family. The reality is a lot more complicated and nuanced - the system of adoption is a symptom of our political system and complete lack of social support programs. We have created a system in which babies can be offered up for a "better" life without ever offering the same level of support for their parents, nor examining the structural inequities which led to a pregnancy without the resources to support it. To be an adoptee is a political identity. My hope is that this project challenges viewers to think more critically about the world around them and the ways in which even subtle political policies can have life altering impacts.