Research project

The Artist's Book

Principal Investigator
Dr Samantha Davey and Dr Stella Bolaki

The research conducted by Dr Stella Bolaki and Dr Samantha Davey aimed to explore the potential benefits of artist’s workshops for mothers who have experienced grief and loss following the adoption of their children. The workshops were designed to facilitate the processing of these complex emotions and promote emotional healing.

To assess the impact of the workshops, a short documentary was produced, providing insights into the research process and showcasing the experiences ofthe participating mothers.

Early indications suggest that the workshops weresuccessful in addressing the emotional needs of the mothers, as evidenced bytheir positive feedback and testimonials. One significant outcome of the research is the high level of interest andengagement from various practitioners.

Professionals from diverse fields,including a barrister, social worker, counsellor, and a representative from the NGO Movement for an Adoption Apology, expressed interest in the research findings.

This reception indicates the potential for the workshops to inform andcontribute to the development of support services for mothers post-adoption.

The art book process

The workshop invited mothers to explore their experience of having their children removed intocare and placed for adoption through the process of making an artist’s book.

This is an innovative art form whereby text, images and other elements work together to make the book’s message more palpable.

The workshop started with a group discussion of a selection of materials (images and literary texts) linked to the theme of adoption and with some examples of artists’ books from the University of Kent’s Special Collections.

The aim was to open space for nuanced discussion around contested adoption and to introduce participants to the artist’s book medium. Participants were then guided through a series of prompts to create an artist’s book about any emotion associated with their experience (pre-, through or post-adoption).

The prompts included questions that encouraged them to think in sensory and metaphorical ways about thephysical, emotional, psychological and social impacts of their chosen emotion on their lives. For example:

  • what is the colour/texture of your emotion?
  • What size is it?
  • What does it taste like?
  • Does it make you envision the future differently?
  • Do you normally keep it a secret?

Participants were asked to write down a few private notes in response to each question which they could refer to during the making process. They were then shown how to craft a simple book form and invited to capture aspects of their experience by adding to the book’s content and layout (art materials were provided or personally selected by those who wanted to include photos memorabilia or found material in their books).

Participants received individual guidance withbook making techniques and materials, as needed. At the end of the making, the group talked about their books, sharing through these objects, broader experiences about adoption.

Reflections on the project

Dr Stella Bolaki:

"At the start of my collaboration with Samantha I was struck by the research I encountered onthe life story book (LSB). Adoptees have a legal right to access information about their backgrounds and personal history. The LSB, often created by caseworkers, parents and the adopted child, is a valuable tool that serves as such a record and can support adopted children’s wellbeing.

LSBs originally took the form of scrapbooks and have similarities with artists’ booksin that they incorporate textual and visual material. I was intrigued to explore if the artist’s bookcan serve a similar purpose for birth mothers whose voices have been ‘silenced’ in adoption research. Can it serve as a vehicle of self-exploration to process difficult experiences or as a tool for self-advocacy and social justice?

As a workshop facilitator I was humbled and impressed by the book structures participants created to communicate lived experiences of having their children removed. Such experiences often associated with trauma, stigma and shame are difficult to share, but the advantage of anartist’s book is that it captures through colour, texture and layout ideas and feelings that wordsalone are often inadequate to express.

Despite the differences in their stories, the participants’ books become means of breaking the silence and claiming agency and authority by prioritising their voices, perspectives, and feelings. These are intimate artworks that show how creating awhole, by putting the images and text together for a book, can feel like a meditative, healing and cathartic experience.

The books participants made powerfully reveal the profound long-term effects of adoption on their lives. They are honest and courageous works that can be shared with others to raise awareness, create solidarity, and shape the support mothers with similar experiences receive from local authorities and professionals in the future".

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Dr Samantha Davey
Dr Stella Bolaki