About

We are both Vietnamese adoptees. Bert (the writer) is based in Canada and I (Jess) am the artist based in the UK.

Me and Bert connected when I submitted some work art work for a book for adopted teens he edited called “Pieces of Me” in 2008 (which came out in Nov 2009 ). It also turns out he was part of  AVI (Adopted Vietnamese International) a group i had been a part of for over 7 years! We just never really had the chance to talk before I submitted work to the book =P. It’s funny how these little connections and chance encounters to people happen =)

Here is our one year anniversary comic that actually goes into a bit more detail of how the comic started, which is our Happy One Year! comic.

Jessica Emmett

I am currently a freelance visual media & community artist in the UK. My academic achievements include graduating in 2005 with a Masters in Media Arts with distinction and (BA) Photography with 2:1 at Manchester Met. University. I have also successfully attained a level 4 City & Guilds Media Techniques (Video production) with distinction. My work draws on personal observations of migration, memory, emotions and issues of belonging. The main formats I engage and forge my ideas with include video, photographic, installation, interactive, online & performance pieces that have been exhibited nationally and internationally. So that means I’m new to comic style work since my background is more contemporary/conceptual media arts. If you’d like to see my conceptual adoption work and other freelance works you can see my online portfolio here: http://www.jessica-emmett.com

Needless to say, I’m adopted. My birthmother was a Vietnamese refugee that fled to Hong Kong after the Vietnam War. I was adopted at the age of one by a British couple who were living and working in Hong Kong. I also have a younger sister that is a HK adoptee. I grow up in an ex-pat English speaking community in HK until I was 16, when i moved to the UK with my (adopted) family =). I now live in Oxfordshire with my husband after spending most of my UK life in Manchester =).

Over the years I have had the pleasure of working with and meeting a lot of adoptees and adoption communities. Over the past 2-3years i have done a number of art-workshops & talks about my experiences of being adopted internationally.

When i started to become interested in adoption and started to explore the different resources out there way back in 2003.  Adoption is a serious issue, and many of the resources reflected that. Of course I think very deeply about adoption, but sometimes i feel it’s easy to get catch up in it all. I believe that if you are able to laugh at yourself, then you can truly accept yourself =). I had no idea if an adoption comic would work, or if it would be only funny to me… so i was thankful when Bert Ballard approached me to do the writing for the comic. So here it is, i hope you enjoy the comic as much as I love drawing for it.

Bert Ballard

I am an adoptee from Vietnam, one of the children evacuated during Operation Babylift in 1975. I grew up in the United States, living in Georgia, Alabama, Utah, Arizona, and mostly Colorado.

In addition, I am an adoption researcher. I study adoptee identity and adoptive family communication. I recently edited Pieces of Me: Who do I Want to Be? with EMK Press. It is a book by and for adopted teens, but with universal themes that all can relate to. Check it out!

In my life, I have helped form two adoptee-led organizations, the Vietnamese Adoptee Network and the International Adoptee Congress. I have been published in Adoption Parenting: Creating a Toolbox, Building Connections and Adoption Today magazine and have spoken across the U.S. and Canada to numerous adoptive parents and adoption professionals sharing my experiences as an adoptee.

I have a PhD in communication and am an assistant professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada where I teach courses in interpersonal communication, family communication, communication ethics, and organizational communication. Find out more about my academic life here.

I am married with two daughters and will be traveling to Vietnam to pick up my new son in the next few months (yes, we are adopting!).

All this is to say that I take adoption very seriously, but I also think that humour and the ability to laugh at ourselves is key to our healing. Laughing at ourselves gives us perspective and the ability to step back and not take ourselves too seriously without minimizing the importance of the topic.

I am passionate about providing adoptees a space where they can share their stories and experiences. This comic is part of that – I think to truly grow as people we need to laugh at ourselves every once in a while. I am so thankful for Jessica Emmett’s work on this and the whole idea – did you know we still haven’t met in person!