Art Exhibit of Foster Care Life

A new exhibit at the Prattville Creative Arts Center and Gallery is photographer Lauren Wade's
D r i f t exhibit. This was created along with artist Onicas Gaddis. Barbara Simpson, the cultural arts and special events coordinator says the exhibit is "about a young black artist's struggle as a young boy in the foster care system and his triumphant rise as an artist."

The D r i f t collection documents the stories of former foster youth. It captures the emotion of the lives spent in foster care and the hope these young people have for a future. It gives a unique perspective on drifting from home to home. Proceeds from the sale of the photographs go to Gift for a Child charitable organization.

Foster care drift is when foster youth move through multiple homes over multiple years. Studies show that youth who experience drift while in care are more likely to have difficulty understanding the concept of family, to suffer academically and socially, and to have feelings of detachment and instability. Drifting usually leads to aging out of the system. 

The people featured in the photographs are current and former foster care youth that Wade was able to meet and interview. She says, "They have all been very successful, most of them currently attending college or are graduates of higher education, and they are all hopeful of their futures." The affects of foster care and drift can still be seen in them. Wade went on to say, "A family is meant to be stable, safe. welcoming, accepting, and loving. Drift was never meant to happen." 

I found this idea for an art gallery of foster youth as interesting. It is a unique perspective of what foster care is like and how difficult it is to be constantly moving from one place to another. It allows people to see what drifting is and what actual foster youth's opinion is on it and their situations in foster care. It brings a real life aspect to the awareness of problems in foster care because these are real pictures of kids who have experienced drifting and know what the system is like from first-hand experience. It is easier to ignore something that is a fake portrayal, but this is real words from real foster youth. This art gallery demands for awareness to be brought to foster care in a unique, artistic way. 

All of the photos used in this blog post are from the D r i f t collection.