Laura Beth Reese

United States

Series: Thank you for the flowers

Iowa is a symbol of my adoption—a faraway land that holds the answers to the questions that I have about myself and my personal history.
It is the home to my biological mother, father, and their three children. When I reached out to them years ago, my biological mother made it clear that they weren’t ready to welcome me into their lives. I am a family secret. I went to Iowa to be close to them despite knowing that the closest that I got would never be close enough.
These pictures illustrate my Iowa: the place I that want Iowa to be, the place that I thought it would be. They are not a true document, but true to my fantasies about and my dreams of it.