Milkquilt, 2001

In early 2000, in response to hostile responses to women nursing in public, I conceived of Milkquilt.

As with most of my work, photography was my source. I organized, reversed and reoriented 5 photographic images of breasts into a quilt-like grid, the height and width of a queen-sized bed. One layer, on Misu paper, was placed on a wall; an outer layer, printed with the exact same image on organza silk, was hung one inch in front of the paper print. Any movement, however gentle, allowed the silk layer to move and ripple in the space, making the layers appear periodically unfocused or unaligned.

After 9/11, I reconceived this project as a limited edition, packaged print: an adult’s pocket-sized security blanket. I called it Portable Security. Opened to full size, this print is 8.5 inches by 11 inches. Closed in its glassine package, it is just 3.5” x 2.5”.

In 2004, at the invitation of Leon Golub, I showed a version of of Milkquilt that was 60 feet long by 8.5’ wide, at the Biennial in Lodz, Poland. This larger installation was suspended from the ceiling, and pooled out onto the floor in front and back, to be seen in the round as a sculptural object.