About the Project
The Guatemalan Interview Project is a community-centered oral-history initiative documenting the diverse experiences of people connected to Guatemala across borders and generations. Participants reflect on adoption, migration, family, language, culture, memory, and the experience of living between worlds. Rather than presenting one definition of Guatemalan identity, the project brings together many perspectives and preserves stories that are often overlooked in traditional archives and cultural institutions. The initiative began as an open call shared through founder Johanna Kepler’s TikTok platform. The response demonstrated a significant need for spaces where Guatemalan adoptees and diaspora communities could speak openly about cultural separation, return, identity, and belonging.
Impact
Get to Know Us
1,000+ expressions of interest
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105 interviews completed
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100+ written testimonies publicly exhibited
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10 participant voices incorporated into live performance
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11,000+ members in the digital community where the project began
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The interviews became a central part of Kepler’s Duke University MFA thesis, Woven Between Worlds.
More than 100 testimonies were installed in a gallery exhibition, while selected audio interviews were
incorporated into the accompanying performance, Weaving Dreams, alongside choreography, projection,
textiles, and sound.
