Baby Girl

“Born not of our flesh but born in our hearts. You were longed for and wanted and loved from the start. Conceived from a blessing sent straight from our Lord above, our very own daughter at last home to love.”

Renamed from Baby Girl Wilke-Cotsonis to Janelle Mali Hagan, these words marked a new identity for a little girl placed into a family of five destined to be six.

I grew up deeply loved and secure in the life I was given, always certain of my place. Yet I cannot deny the connection I feel to a family I do not know, with their features written across my face and their blood flowing through my veins. The uncertainty of my lineage exists alongside a certainty that I have always been right where I belong. I was nurtured by one family and aware of another whose presence is embedded in my nature.

BABY GIRL is a photographic project centered on my personal adoption story. Through intimate images and personal archives, I aim to explore the deep bond I share with my adoptive family while also examining a curiosity about my birth family. The work examines the emotional complexities of being an adopted child and the layered sense of identity that comes with belonging to a both a known and unknown family.