Every once in a while, when my dad and I are
together, someone will make a comment about our striking resemblance. We both
laugh when this happens, and he usually makes a joke about his baldness and we
carry on. We laugh because we know it’s impossible for us to look alike; he’s
not my biological father. I was conceived at a fertility clinic using an
anonymous donation from a sperm bank. I’ve always understood that an anonymous
donor helped my parents have me and that, although we’ll never know anything
else about him, he was kind enough to help us. However, as I’ve gotten older, I find myself wondering what
my bio-dad might look like. Is he even alive? Why does he want to remain
anonymous? Do we look alike? Nowadays, I often see people that look like me and
wonder if there’s any chance we’re related. With this project, I’m using photography as a visual
investigative tool to explore the overwhelming amount of questions that I may
never know the answer to. By using a combination of film actors, my
non-biological father who raised me, and myself, I’m interested in the
absurdity of using photography to search for my biological father.