Callie Chamberlain Imagination Fund Application — The Adoptee Jokbo

Artist statement

Korean families maintain a Jokbo, tracing their clan lineage and acting as a guide to honor ancestors during annual traditions where a sacrificial table is set. Bloodline is a deep source of pride in Korean culture. When we as Korean adoptees are separated from our first families, we are not recorded in our family books because we are often a source of pain, shame, and secrecy. There are currently over 200,000 Korean adoptees living in the United States today. So, I want to create a virtual jokbo by us, for us, to document our existence and to say, we are here. In doing so, we challenge the narrative that reunion is the way to wholeness. Only 5% of us reunify and less stay in reunion. Korean adoptees will self submit a photo, letter, and an object to be set on the ancestral table to be documented in an online site. Through online documentation, adoptees and their descendants have a restored sense of identity, connection, and belonging.