No, where are you really from?

Senior art project exhibited in the Merwin and Wakeley Galleries, spring 2024. Received Faculty Selection Award and Senior Exhibition Honors. Presented at the John Wesley Powell Research Conference.

Abstract:
No, where are you really from? is a collection of poster designs inspired by the search posters used when Chinese adoptees conduct a birth parent search. Typically, search posters are handed out as printed flyers in areas where babies were known to be left, but this collection is intended to artistically depict the emotions surrounding adoption, especially from China, as well as communicate the complexities of Chinese adoption and the One Child Policy. I deliberately chose a large poster size for this project to call attention to the information—or sometimes lack thereof—on Chinese adoption. I explored postmodern, brutalist, and minimalist design styles, and was inspired by printmaking to digitally create layers of colors, images, and text. Using information from official government documents, family photos, as well as research on the cause and effects of adoption, the posters reference how real search posters contain pictures of adoptees as babies and in the present, along with dates and locations that may help birth parents identify their child. Some themes mentioned include: growing up Asian in America, emotions towards both adoptive and birth families, skepticism surrounding adoptee origin stories, details on Chinese baby trafficking, and the feeling of facing the mystery of our abandonment.