Konstfack was granted the right to award doctoral degrees in 2022, and Cecilia Hei Mee Flumé is the first doctoral candidate to defend her thesis within visual, applied and spatial arts. On the 11 June, she presented her artistic research project "There Is No Place Like Home – Illustrating Heritage, Race and Class Through the Personal Story of International Adoption".
Photo: Kristina Sandin
Before an audience of colleagues, students, the examination committee, and invited guests, Cecilia Hei Mee Flumé presented and defended her artistic research project. The opponent was Nanette Hoogslag, Senior Lecturer at Cambridge School of Art.
The artistic project consists of two parts: a graphic novel and an accompanying written component titled "The Companion". The graphic novel, a sequential, visual narrative format, serves both as an artistic and academic tool. In it, text and images interact to illustrate and tell a story, but it is the images that take center stage and bear the primary responsibility.
Cecilia Hei Mee Flumé has explored and portrayed how intersectional aspects of adoption, race, class, and identity can be highlighted through illustration. At the same time, she challenges norms, expectations, and systems. The illustrations are layered with meaning – color, ornamentation, composition, and craftsmanship are deliberate choices used to question Modernist design.
Visual storytelling can carry political content
Through her personal story as an adoptee from South Korea to Sweden, Cecilia Hei Mee Flumé incorporates the experience of betweenship into her research. She demonstrates how visual storytelling can carry political content and contribute to a broader understanding of social structures.
During the dissertation defense, one of the topics discussed was the fact that 10–15 years ago, it was difficult to voice criticism of international adoptions. Therefore Cecilia Hei Mee Flumé developed a strategy to create images that communicated gently, yet subversively. Opponent Nanette Hoogslag highlighted how illustration can function as a form of soft power.
– I wanted to show the different ways illustration can operate, while also presenting the critical narrative of transnational adoption, Cecilia Hei Mee Flumé said during the defense.
A bodily, emotional, and cultural perspective
She also referenced the report submitted by the Adoption Commission to the Swedish government on June 2 this year. While the commission’s language is legal, fact-based, and institutional, "There Is No Place Like Home" offers a bodily, emotional, and cultural perspective on what adoption can entail.
Cecilia Hei Mee Flumé was also asked about her depiction of Korea. She explained that the visual language reflects an adoptee’s perception or understanding of what Korea is.
"The Companion" is a guide detailing how the graphic novel was shaped as a research project. It outlines the project’s background, theory, method, intent, design, and sources, and reflects on position, readability, communication, transparency, and accessibility.
The examination committee consisted of Adam Bergholm, Anette Højlund, Behzad Khosravi Noori, Hilde Kramer, and Karen Jiyun Sung. Supervisors were Sara Teleman and Moa Matthis. The chair of the defense was Mathew Gregory.
Cecilia Hei Mee Flumé began her doctoral studies in November 2020 and has conducted research in visual communication with a focus on illustration. She holds a master’s degree in Visual Communication from 2016. Cecilia Hei Mee Flumé is now Doctor of Philosophy in Artistic Practice in Visual, Applied and Spatial Arts
DiVA portal: There Is No Place Like Home: Illustrating Heritage, Race and Class Through the Personal Story of International Adoption
Download "The Companion": Cecilia Flumé, Art and Illustration