Creating PLACED has been a life changing process, a surprise & delight driven by curiosity, slowed by heart ache (and COVID), and only completed by perseverance garnered by community support. This project has allowed me to acknowledge the ways in which white supremacy is deeply woven into every single facet of our lives and how I as an adoptee have benefited from such an oppressive system. It’s revealed how the model minority myth pits Asian folks against other people of color, especially Black and Brown folks. It’s taught me about unpacking my traumas and ridding the shame I once held towards this beautiful Asian body; the confusion I felt being an outsider my whole life; the guilt I felt for fronting an inauthentic version of myself in hopes of garnering validation from what I thought to be the most important voice, a white voice.