© Stephanie & Chris Emmett - Original negatives from the first day I was adopted. I refure back to these photographys a lot in my work.

It is very important to know where I have come from to put into context my art practice.

I was born in 1982 in Hong Kong. My birth mother was a Vietnamese refugee boat-person that fled to Hong Kong after the Vietnam War. She was staying in a refugee camp when I was born. My birthmother was given resettlement into the USA. She already had a teenage duaghter when I was born. She felt that she couldn't go to a new country not knowing how to speak English as her first language while having very little money as well having a new born baby to top it all off. For the first 5 months i was in a health centre waiting the completion of the relinquishment process in which i was fostered straight after by a British family that were living in HK (as apposed to being put in an orphanage). My foster family gave me a nickname, Jessica Jane (JJ). After a year another British family who were living in Hong Kong at the time, the Emmett's, adopted me. From that day I was known as Jessica Jane Emmett.

I lived in Hong Kong for sixteen years, and then emigrated to the UK with my adopted parents and my (HK adoptee) sister in 1998. Many people ask me if we left Hong Kong because of the handover but the actual reason is that my adopted parents had lived in Hong Kong for about 30 years and felt that they wanted to move back closer to relatives and live in their own homeland again. While living in HK I lived in an expatriate community, English speaking schools & friends etc. so i sadly can't speak Chinese.

My birthmother gave me a name when I was born, LE Bich-Hoong. Le being the last name and Bich-Hoong meaning pink rose (I'm told). My birthmother's name was Lê Thi Lan, which means pretty orchid. I have recently found out that the spelling of my given name may have been the Chinese spelling. My birth name is the only thing my birthmother gave me and I treasure it even if it is not my current name.

For most of my life I felt that being adopted had no effect on me whatsoever for I've had a very happy life and good adoption experience. I consider my adopted parents fully as my mum and dad. I didn't look at my birth certificates until i was in my earily 20's, even though my parents always said it was in the drawer and I could look at it at any time. After looking at the papers and possible no marriage to my husband in 2005, I realised that subconsciously it had affected me all my life, even if only in a small ways. My parents have always been honest with me about my origins and have always said they would help me search. I have tried once to look for my birthmother but due to privacy laws I was unable to find out the information further than Hong Kong, which I fully understand and respect. But in 2008 i decided to start looking again =) and while i've been been putting off some paper work to move foward, watch this space =D. See [ADOPTION] work.

I have becoming increasingly involoved with adoption orginisations and have meet some fantastic adoptees & families in my quest to understand adoption. This is a very exciting time for me.

"People are always telling me that I am brave to 'expose' myself in the way I do. I don't agree. When you act in the light of knowledge which is in your own self-interest or in the interests of your group or class, this is not bravery but absolute necessity.” (Jo Spence 1986)