Annie O

Hang in there, crazy dogs. The fog is lifting.

Annie O grew up in a small beachside suburb in the north of New Zealand under a closed adoption, having to wait until she was 20 to obtain her original birth certificate. She was raised with three sisters, all from the Baby Scoop Era where at one point 76 babies were being given away each week in New Zealand. Over 100,000 adoptions have taken place in the country but adoptees still have no legal rights to their heritage, are treated as second-class citizens, and are unwillingly made party to this legal fiction.

Her life's mission is to correct the law of the past and get archaic, outdated, and cruel regulations changed. 'Where the Fuck is My Mother?', a gritty children's-book style depiction of adoption, is Annie's journey of some of the daily triggers adoptees face, and she hopes it can be a source of healing, comfort and console.

annieo.co.nz