Are You Happy? (행복하니?)

“Are You Happy? (행복하니?)” is the first installment of a long-term project, which focuses on themes of transracial adoption and identity. This project serves as an open letter to my birth mother, consisting entirely of questions collected internally throughout a childhood of dealing with the issue of not having any definitive answers or contact with my own kin.

A common barrier Korean American adoptees perpetually encounter is having little access to information in regards to their born family; ranging from basic medical history, to parents' names and their reason for abandonment. This issue often results in a struggle to identify, left only with the option to construct one's sense of self based on assumptions-- a keyhole-sized look into their hereditary lineage.

This stream of conscious letter to my birth mother was first written in English. The text is accompanied alongside a sloppy, informally translated letter typed out in hangul. It’s a version that I’d be fearful of sharing with her, based in a shame that comes with not knowing one's own mother tongue, and a worry that it might come off as lazy or disrespectful.

The letters are presented alongside a painting, which was created as a meditation done immediately after writing the letter; serving as a release of internalized and unspoken emotions.