Adonis

“We were a three person family before you were born and we were a three person family after he left.”

-Father

When Nadja was a child, her brother went missing. It started with a night out here and there, then a week, then months. ‘Adonis’ follows Nadja and her parents as they try to make sense of that troubled time. Together they trace Adonis’ footsteps and examine how his disappearance impacted the family and the ripple effects decades later.

The project explores the effects of ‘ambiguous loss,’ a loss that is by definition open-ended and without closure. Adonis the boy chose to go missing, to leave his family and home behind. ‘Adonis’ the project explores what happens to a family when someone chooses to leave without saying goodbye, exploring themes of loss, trauma, addiction and home.

“We stopped searching because it was futile. What do you do if you find him? He’s not gonna come home. It wasn’t like he was looking for us, he knew where we were. He wasn’t looking for a family.”

-Mother