Breastmilk
Artwork Introduction: Breastmilk is an installation artwork that explores the profound relationship between motherhood, ecology, and capitalist production through minimalistic art. The work uses simple containers and transparent tubes to illustrate the transformation between nature and industrialization, unveiling the hidden exploitation and oppression in everyday life.
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The installation consists of two opposing containers: one represents "breastmilk", and the other represents "milk." The liquid in the breastmilk container is clear and transparent, symbolizing natural nurturing. In contrast, the liquid in the milk container gradually shifts from white to murky, suggesting the degradation and pollution of purity and nature during the industrial process. Transparent tubes slowly connect the two liquids, symbolizing the subtle relationship between motherhood and industrial production, serving as a metaphor for the complex cycle between ecology and human actions.
The tension in the artwork arises from the slow change in the liquid flow, the contrast between transparency and purity, and the states of stillness and motion. This conveys the alienation of motherhood in capitalist production and the intersection between nature and industrialization. Through this minimalist yet profound artistic language, the piece invites viewers to reflect on the intricate relationship between global ecology, labour production, and the female body in modern society.
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Exhibition Form 1:Breastmilk / Milk is an art installation warning about the profound social, gender, and ecological structures behind seemingly insignificant consumer behaviours. Through its minimalist form, it calls attention to ecological exploitation, capitalist oppression, and the disappearance and alienation of motherhood, inspiring deep reflection on these invisible processes.
In a transparent sealed cup, the sequence shows untreated breastmilk, processed milk products, milk mixed with baking soda, milk with added vegetable oil, milk with detergent, and milk with cola. The white milk changes its appearance through chemical reactions, showcasing layers of transformation.
Chemical Reactions and Symbolism: The addition of various substances reflects the gradual corruption of motherhood and milk as symbols and the chemical transformations in ecology and society. Each substance represents different cultural, political, or economic forces, opening a critique of modern society's oppression of motherhood and ecology. For example, adding detergent to milk symbolizes industrial pollution and consumer culture's impact on milk. Adding cola represents commodification's effect on milk.
Form Changes and Flow: The changes in milk's form during its flow are a visual expression of how modern production patterns alter and alienate natural nourishment and motherhood.
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The Herd in the Mirror
Artwork Introduction: This work explores ecological justice in industrial animal farming and water resources, aiming to provoke deep reflection on modern technology, ecological balance, and gender oppression. The first poster features cows on a grassland, symbolizing harmony with nature and showcasing a vast natural environment and free-living creatures. The second poster contrasts this by showing cows in an industrial farming environment, with dark tones and a mechanical backdrop emphasizing the ecological destruction and animal suffering under industrialized oppression.
This contrast further reveals how modern society may overlook ecological ethics and animal welfare in its pursuit of technological and economic benefits. Additionally, the AI-generated visual effects enhance the contrast between idealized technological visions and reality, highlighting the destruction of the natural environment. Using cows as a symbol of motherhood, the work incorporates gender oppression, reflecting the emotional deprivation of cows separated from their calves and exploring the intersection of industrialized farming and gender inequality.
Exhibition Form: Three distinct posters feature cows in different settings: the stereotypical image of cows in a blue sky and green field, cows in factory farming, and AI-generated posters of cows.
Contrasting Cow Environments: One poster depicts cows on the grassland surrounded by a vast natural environment, with blue skies and white clouds, symbolizing the harmony of nature and ecology. The other poster portrays factory-farmed cows trapped in small spaces or undergoing frequent milking. The use of dark tones and mechanized factory environments highlights the visual effect of industrial oppression.
AI-Generated Visual Effects: The use of artificial intelligence in generating the poster designs emphasizes the contrast between modern technology and traditional natural environments. AI designs convey an 'over-idealized' visual illusion, where relying on technology without considering ecology and ethics may lead to a disconnection from reality and create a 'beautiful fantasy,' contrasted with the industrial exploitation and ecological damage hidden behind idealized blue skies and white clouds.
Gender and Ecological Intertwining: The presentation of cows can include symbolic elements of gender oppression. For example, in scenes of cows separated from their calves, visual cues like the cow's expression, posture, and the spatial distance between mother and calf may reflect the loss of motherhood and emotional deprivation.
Milk advertisements commonly seen on the market：
When inputting the command to MidJourney: A milk advertisement featuring a dairy cow on a farm, in extreme-realistic detail.
Cows in factory farming:
Residual Milk
"Residual Milk" symbolizes the traces of life left after being exploited. This work uses minimalism to express the pain and exploitation of dairy cows, focusing on the 'silenced life' and 'consumer indifference' within the exploitative system. Through abstract visual language, it guides the audience to think about the value of life and the cycle of exploitation.
A. A Giant Minimalist' Milk Drop' Installation: At the gallery's centre is a giant minimalist 'milk drop' installation (size and material may vary depending on space). The shape is a translucent, milky drop, about 3 meters in diameter, suspended in mid-air. The bottom of the drop tapers into a thin line, seemingly on the verge of falling but forever suspended.
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Material: The drop is made of specially crafted soft silicone. Its surface reflects weak light, contrasting the softness of life with its coldness.
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Dynamics: Inside the drop, a fluid similar to blood and milk slowly flows, subtly changing colour as if mirroring the hidden activities of the dairy cow's body.
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Sound: The space is filled with a low-frequency 'heartbeat' sound, occasionally mixed with the low moaning of cows and the mechanical sound of milking machines, creating an uneasy, quiet atmosphere.
Audience Experience: As the audience approaches the milk drop, the liquid seems 'absorbed' by its shadow, causing the drop to turn a faint red, symbolizing the cost of consumption. The floor emits faint compression sounds as the audience walks around, like stepping on a soft life form.
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Additional Details:
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Naming Plaque: The only information in the gallery is a small plaque: "Her name is Luma, six years, six pregnancies. Separated six times, milked 1,800 times. Shot once."
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Silent Reflection at the Exit: Upon leaving the gallery, the audience passes a highly reflective black mirror with a hidden message visible only from a certain angle: "Your consumption is her end.
