ARTISTS ARE EMOTIONAL! And we use our art to express our emotions and to draw attention to important issues we feel others need to know about and become emotional about. One artist
who is doing just this is my good friend and talented artist from Australia, Lina Eve. She’s been
speaking out (& “creating out”) about the atrocities of forced adoptions…when young, single mothers were forced and “persuaded” into giving up their children against their will. Sadly she knows all too
well about this issue and so I’ve asked her to share her message and her work with us to help
shed light and understanding on this difficult topic. Here’s her YouTube videos, artwork and interview.
Thanks for reading…
LINA: Here is a radio interview I did a few days back on regional ABC:
they called it ”The day they took my baby”
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Lina Eve: Australian Artist, Singer/Songwriter, Video Maker and Activist.
When I was contacted by my talented friend Lauren to write for her blog, a Senate Inquiry on Forced Adoptions was sitting in Australia.
As a young unmarried mother in 1964 who lost her child to adoption, I’d lived with the trauma and grief of her loss for decades.
Once computers became part of my life, I eventually found and joined various support groups which helped me understand the inhumane treatment and injustice so many unmarried mothers endured.
By sharing our stories, we came to realize the bullying, scorn and brainwashing practiced by social workers, religious institutions and hospital staff were all designed to undermine us, and make it easier to take our babies.
We spoke of the horror of having a pillow placed in front of our faces during childbirth, and of not being allowed to see our babies. We sent for, and received, our social workers records and our medical records.
There we discovered the shocking amounts of drugs they gave us to make us more pliant, and learnt from our records that despite many of us desperately wanting to keep our babies,
their agenda right from the start, was to take them from us to feed the long line of infertile couples waiting to adopt.
In Australia, (mainly via a support group called Origins) we started lobbying the government to have the truth of Forced Adoptions made public and finally, a few days back, the Senate Inquiry vindicated our claims, and made many recommendations
for a National Apology, counseling support, more transparency and access to all records to facilitate reunions and assist people tracing their personal history.
So how does one cope with the emotional fallout after a life event which rocks you to the core? One way is to share your story, initially with people who have been on a similar path, but we have to reach out to the public too,
as there are many who are still locked in grief & trauma, and/or shamed into silence by an uncaring past and an uninformed present.
I’m one of the lucky ones who are able to express themselves via art, music and video. Creativity has transformed much of my grief, anger and trauma and allowed me to share my story.
I hope by sharing my story creatively it may help others separated by adoption and the general public, to learn more about the dark side of Forced Adoptions in the sincere hope such inhumane acts will not occur again.
“Bitter Winds” is a video I made using a song I wrote about losing my daughter to adoption. It won Best Australian Music Video, “WOW” film festival Sydney 2008
“Adoption Loss: The Bad Girl Series” is a video I created using my artwork from “The BAD GIRL Series” The BAD GIRL series of artwork has been exhibited locally, nationally and internationally.
Adoption art and activism is not my only work, but with the Inquiry going on, its been foremost in my thoughts lately. Anyone interested in other non political artwork, can check my website below.
Thanks Lauren, for giving me the opportunity to share my art and thoughts on your blog. You Rock!
Warm wishes, Lina
