Martha Gelarden
Identity is A Civil Right

My current studio practice questions adoption practice and advocates reform worldwide.

LPs serve as stand-ins for original sealed birth records locked under court order, when an adoption is finalized. Parallel narratives, mother and child are frozen in time, can never meet, yet they are forever connected.

What's My Name? Who am I REALLY?
Can you ever forgive me? Why is my heritage secret?

These unanswered questions all remain, as long as the this legacy remains locked away.

What's the history?
Millions of children were surrendered to non-relative adoptions in the US between 1947 and 1974. Their identities remain state secrets. This must change.

Identity is a Civil Right.