What do you get when trauma, vulnerability and talent walk into the same room? The creation of a community seeking ways to be seen and heard. The formation of a group of people dedicated to one another’s healing. The creation of a powerful documentation of a journey of growth. The force from a year-long witnessing of that journey of growth within an adopted community is the inspiration behind The Flourish Experience: The Power of Adoptee Healing in Community.

Utilizing the combination of the many different talents of the 2021 Flourish group through our words, knowledge and creativity, we wish to offer adopted, and non-adopted, people inspiration, opportunity to educate and the potential for connection. By sharing our experience, we hope to empower other adoptees with the courage to raise their voices, unapologetically.

As the project blossomed into the form of a book, so did the need for an idea for a cover. Volunteering our artistic talent, the rest of the Flourish book authors entrusted us with the task of creating art work for our book cover. Little did we know that the cover project would become an extension of the Flourish book project! Having shared the healing experience of community together and equipped with our passion for art, using our own style and choice of medium, we created our own visual expressions of the lived experiences of adopted people. Out of respect for each of our own individual styles, we chose to create separate pieces of artwork that could be incorporated together into one piece.  As the cover project progressed, we would share with the rest of the group asking for thoughts and feedback. Each member of our group was moved by different art pieces in different ways, bringing up different emotions and thoughts.  Faced with the difficult task of choosing from all the beautiful art work, we came up with the idea of raising funds from the sales of the art to benefit Saving Our Sisters.

Each piece was inspired either by our own depiction of a visual derived from either a writing prompt from our time at Flourish, or the expression of a transformational experience we witnessed or share among others in the group. The following is the description of our artwork in our own words,  to give you a better understanding of each piece.

Mirroring

Mixed Media collage with acrylic, watercolor, ink, pencil, thread, rice paper, on archival watercolor papers

By Michelle Madsen Hinton

I wanted to convey the duality of being an adoptee in my art piece. I drew orchids; delicate, unique, and extremely fragile. The stems are strong and will grow tall, with support. The roots of some orchids are fully exposed, aerial, not rooted in soil, and will grow on their host. Orchid flowers are mirrored halves. One side mirrors the other.

As adoptees, we too will grow with support, in relation to other adoptees. We don’t grow in the soil, but can thrive. Being adopted can feel as though you are two people in one, one that everyone wants you to be, and you.

There are two sections in this piece, top and bottom. On the bottom ½, the orchid is surrounded by a murkiness of flower shapes and words from my journal during Flourish: “Rejection leads to terror”.  “Broken down”, “My authentic self was rejected”, “
What do we risk and for what reward?”. With minimum color, I attempt to convey my feeling that I need to remain plain, unseen, always blend in, conforming to a norm to be in relation to the world. 
The top half of the piece is how I feel after being in community with other adoptees, the orchid has gained colors, strength, and dare I say confidence. I can be my bright and shiny self, and speak my truths, share hard emotions, grow, all without having to explain why it is such a triumph. The roots are exposed and cut off, yet we survive.

I chose to collage the orchids with layers of rice paper printed with my own adoption court paperwork. The words in the papers are so hard to read as an adoptee; terminate, illegitimate, baby girl, filed.

To show the difficulty duality is within adoptees, I sewed the pieces together.

To view the piece as it’s whole, you see the mirroring. As adoptee’s we are able to mirror each other through our knowing the lived experience. We validate each other, our feelings, our sorrows, our grief, and our celebrations.

I Know This Much Is True

Gouache, Pen and Ink on Arches Watercolour paper

By April Gaulke/Francine J Bauer

This art was inspired by the year I spent in Flourish. Each word consists of letters individually cut from a dictionary page. Within each letter are words describing how this time has influenced me and how adoption has impacted my life. The writing from prompts, conversations and relationships that have evolved from this time have had a powerful effect on my life. While it’s impossible to fully understand the impact of being adopted to those who have been fortunate to be raised by first families, I hope this may give some insight into our truth.

Womb Writings

Mixed media paper. I used wool fiber, Japanese rice paper, acrylics, ink and charcoal

By Susie Stricker

Faced with the decision whether to keep her child, unwed mothers often receive unsolicited advice suggesting that for the best interest of the child, she relinquish her right to parent her
baby by surrendering them for adoption. Imagining a baby could communicate with its mother while inside her by writing messages on the interior walls of her womb, “Womb Writings” shows the image of a human hand touching the surface of the womb revealing inaudible messages expressing the needs of the child. This piece is meant to give the adopted child a voice.

We are grateful to both Anne and Pam for their dedication to provide a safe space and their guidance which was such a huge impact on our lives that we just had to let other adoptees know that in community it is possible to find belonging.

Our “Flourish” art can be found on the book website, www.theflourishexperience.com. Proceeds from book sales benefit the podcast AdopteesOn and art sales benefit Saving Our Sisters.