It’s a beautiful thing when transracial adoptees use their exceptional talents to raise our voices and tell our stories. Over the next few months, I’ll be featuring adoptees’ works, whether it be visual or performing art, literature, memoir, or even monthly subscription boxes for transracial family education. I do this in an effort to support my fellow adoptees, as the more we lift each other’s voices, the stronger we will rise. I hope you’ll enjoy their work as much as I do and support their missions!

SUNDERED: A Collective Art Piece by Eva Lin Fahey

Eva Lin Fahey, a 22-year-old Chinese adoptee, is one such adoptee using art to tell an adoption story. Eva is currently coordinating a project called SUNDERED, a massive effort to unite female Chinese adoptees with their identities. By helping Chinese adoptees visualize themselves not as individuals with missing heritages, but as a collective family with a shared lost culture, this project will bring their stories alive among each other and their greater communities.

Why only female Chinese adoptees?

Eva’s aim is to showcase the female Chinese adoptee narrative, as they were the group most impacted by the One Child Policy.  The world largely overlooks the impact China’s One Child Policy and historical male gender preference had on its lost girls. Also, as a female Chinese adoptee, it’s also the group she understands most intimately.

SUNDERED: About the Project

Purpose

• To explore the notion of origin and how it reaches beyond a physical birthplace or location
• Visually explain the dramatic effects of China’s historical gender preference imbalance
• Embrace our bonds within both our adoptive families and that we share with our birth country and families

The Goal

• Creation of a hand-stitched document of Chinese adoptee photos, connected through a quilt of faces
• Creation of a visually impactful painting, demanding the attention our stories deserve

SUNDERED: Your contribution

As Eva says, “transracial adoption, regardless of your own personal experience with it, has dramatically changed who you are and how you live.”

This is your chance to tell your story.

Right now, Eva is collecting print photos from female Chinese adoptees born between 1978-2016.

Photo specifications:

• Must be sized 2×2 or 5cm by 5cm
• Can be of you from any age
• Optional: A few sentences about yourself; this information may appear in the final project
• Must be mailed to
  • Eva Lin Fahey
  • PO Box 1378
  • Northampton, MA 01061
  • United States
• Print photos are strongly preferred. Please contact Eva via email if you’d like to submit a digital photo.

I strongly encourage you to share this post and Eva’s work with any adoptees you know. The more we network and share our work, the greater our chance to finally be heard.

For more information about SUNDERED or to find out more about Eva’s work, please visit Eva’s website.