We are both Vietnamese adoptees. Bert (the writer) is based in USA and I, Jess (the illustrator), 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 illustrator designer & artist based in the UK.
My background was originally more in photography & media (which is what I studied at university for my degree & masters). My early work incorporated adoption issues and much of my work was conceptual. After leaving uni my intrest in the adoption world continued. I often worked with East Asian adoption communities doing children’s art workshops, talks/panels about my experiences of being a transactional and have contributed to a number of transactional adult adoptee projects.
If you’d like to see my conceptual adoption work, illustrations and other freelance work 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 =).
When i started to become interested in adoption and started to explore the different resources out there way back in 2003 I struggled to find things I related to. 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 helped organize two major international conferences on international adoption – the Intercountry Adoption Summit in Ontario in 2010 and the Pepperdine Law School Conference on Intercountry Adoption: Orphan Rescue or Child Trafficking? in 2013.
I have a PhD in communication and served as an assistant professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada and at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, 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 a son adopted from Vietnam (we’ve got a couple of comics about the experience). Check ’em out!
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. Thanks to Jess for her work on this project.