An unknown medical history is like a SKELETON IN THE CLOSET, something that must be hidden. There is shame at replying a mumbled, weak: “I know nothing (...)” to a doctor’s insistent questions. The skeleton is but a pile of jumbled bones; some are missing and you are not sure which bone connects to which socket.

To not see your face reflected in family members can be an alienating experience; a generational rift. The double in the MIRROR is a stranger. Faces — and especially intimates — are scanned almost immediately for the telltale features which mark them as possible kin.

There are empty DRESSER DRAWERS in the adoptee’s identity construct, to be filled with imaginings, daydreams & fantasy figures in an attempt to make whole a spotty genealogical history. This identity formation is precarious — to embark on a ‘search’ to retrieve a missing part of the self, adoptees risk that they will also lose that vital part which is based on fantasy. When the imaginary is a crucial component of her/his early structuring of identity, to dismantle the fantasy can dismantle the self. 1

The adoptee can learn early how to split in two; the part that wants to know more (the bad adoptee) is CLOSETED by the part that does not want to stir up the past or hurt their adoptive family (the good adoptee).