I received an email from Chinese adoptee Hannah Gershone about her project that is looking at the intersection between adoption and environmental justice. I am happy to share her project with my readers. There is about one week left before the submission deadline.
Adoptee Literary and Art Archive: Call for Submissions
Deadline: November 1, 2022
Contact: Hannah Gershone
Email: adopteearchive@gmail.com
Digital Archive Description
Adoptee Literary and Art Archive is a digital archive which aims to begin a conversation surrounding the intersections of transracial adoption, art, and environment. It argues that transracial adoptee environmentalisms are essential for just futures.
Interested contributors must connect their work to the environment. ‘Environment’ includes the places where we ‘live, work, and play.’ Broadly, it includes the natural environment as well as built space. We are interested in your relationship with the environment and transracial adoption. Contributions which navigate questions of uncertain climate futures are of particular interest, although this is not a requirement. We are just as interested in your experience birdwatching in the city as your thoughts on climate refugees.
There are no restrictions on the type of contribution. We welcome film, audio, text, and image representations of sculptures, paintings, creative fiction, memoir, poetry, ceramics, and any other literary or art form of contributors’ choice.
A list of optional guiding prompts and questions, as well as submission specifications, are available on the project submissions website.
Accepted contributions will be licensed under a restrictive Creative Commons agreement CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
The digital archive itself is in progress and will eventually be hosted on CollectionBuilder. In short, librarians at the University of Idaho created CollectionBuilder as an accessible platform to host digital collections and exhibits. As an open-source tool (nonproprietary), anyone can use and modify the CollectionBuilder web templates for free. We chose CollectionBuilder for its accessibility, longevity (beyond a university-hosted site), customization, and metadata capabilities.
This digital archive is situated within the legacy of transracial adoptee blogs, podcasts, artwork, and other multimedia, and will allow users nuanced ways to visually see and browse contributor data including: timeline, keyword(s), type of work, and contributor(s).
First and foremost a resource for transracial adoptees, the digital archive continues the legacy of adoptee activism which demands that adoptee voices are seen, heard, and understood as legitimate sites of knowledge. The archive will also serve as a wealth of primary resources for scholars interested in discussing adoption, environment, and uncertain climate futures within the same breath.
Eligibility
● Must be 18 years of age or older
● Must self-identify as a transracial adoptee (identify as a different race from adoptive parents) or have transracial adoptee parent(s)
● Domestic, international, and foster-care transracial adoptees are encouraged to contribute work
● Collaborative art and literary works by transracial adoptees are welcome (all contributors must be 18 years or older)
● One submission is accepted per contributor or artist collective
For full submission guidelines and instructions, please visit the project submissions website.
Red Thread Broken 