Paidi

Paidi

The exhibition of collected human milk samples created an unexpected intimacy
1994
Munich, Germany
1 shows: exhibition history

"Who sees and tastes it as an adult? The mothers do. The babies do. Making the unseen seen guided my project of collecting human milk. The color scale and the difference of the consistency of the samples surprised me, - so did the sense of momentary intimacy this project created."  Iris Häussler
 

Room I:
243 small format portrait photographs of children in their first year of life were mounted on the wall, at eye level. They were labeled with details of the child's date and place of birth and the date of the photo. The photos were taken between 1905 and 1994.

Room II:
Drawings 45 framed drawings (pencil, stamp ink, mother's milk, wax, ear wax and collage on paper, each 150 x 107mm) were presented in a row at eye level.

Room III and IV:
Samples of mother's milk: 280 test tubes were installed on the wall, in frieze-like fashion, at eye level. They were labeled with details of the date of child's birth and when the milk was collected. The milk differed in it’s amount (5-30ml) supplied by the mother and in its color, which changes over the stage of nursing.