Conceived originally in 2019 as the “Adoption Project”, Canopy is artist and adoptee driven, co-created and co-delivered alongside global communities and networks with a shared ethos. We advocate and work to empower adoptees, reduce stigma, and strive to support legislative reform(s).

By connecting, enabling and collaborating with Adult Adoptees/care experienced adults, Adoptive/Foster Parents, Social Workers, Academics, Artists & Activists, Canopy explores the developmental, generational and societal impact of adoption, the systems and cultures that drive adoption as a practice.

To date the research has taken us to Dublin, Cork, Berlin, Hannover, Beijing and England. We are building a highly collaborative global community of Adoptees and Non-Adoptees and valued partners who are exploring adoption (broadly) through art, activism and advocacy, education research, humanities and social sciences, socially engaged architecture and politics. 

Current Projects Unfolding under Canopy….

• Twine – Our new mid-scale theatre production explores a single adoption. The way in which ‘the state’ can act as a corporate parent and how UK government intervention into the ‘family tree’ impacts our bodies, heritage and societal relationships. This work speaks to adoption in England, but more specifically in the Midlands. We presented it at Yard Theatre (London) and as part of Fierce Festival 2024 at the Legacy Centre of Excellence (Birmingham).
• Canopy (the installation) – we are working to assemble through a series of international research projects and residencies, Canopy (the installation) co-creating a ‘touring neighbourhood of tiny houses.’  These ‘national family homes’ will aim to bring together an international network of Adult Adoptees and globally map the ways in which adoption moves people, money and national values across the world.

In the evolution of this project to date, we are appreciative of the research and development opportunities provided through:

• Funding from the British Council’s International Collaboration Grant where we completed residencies in Germany and Ireland hosted by partners Cork Midsummer Festival, Schaübuhne, and Project Arts Centre. 
• Canopy Ireland – A short symposium on the Irish family home at Axis Ballymun on 11 July 2024. It invited the wider public into the research process for the first time. 
• Funding secured from West Midlands Combined Authority’s ‘Future Growth Grants’, a December 2024 research trip to Beijing to explore family, kinship and social care dynamics through the lens of disability. 

If you would like to get in touch to discuss Canopy please contact [email protected]