Life is Good

Lauren Farley | Photograph | Genomic Expressions

Photograph

Lauren Farley | Team Manager

DNA was a big source of anxiety and confusion to me for much of my early life, since I was adopted as an infant. My family (that I grew up with) is of course great, but I have come to realise that being adopted has certainly shaped who I am in a major way and I spent many adolescent and teenage years feeling like I did not belong, even with my own family (though who hasn’t felt that way!). I sought out my biological family when I was in my late 20s. This photo of myself with my biological mother, grandmother, half-sister and cousins represents, at the age of 29, one of the first times in my life that I was in the presence of people I share DNA with. The first meeting with my mother and grandmother was particularly surreal, I felt like I was looking at a mirror of myself in 16 and 45 years’ time.