katyaev anton
(ekaterina vasilyeva)

Ev interrogates both the presence of lactating bodies in public space and the symbolic weight of milk as an epistemological metaphor. ​

announcement of the exhibition on the website of CC Strombeek

 

 

Rooted in Ev’s personal experience of lactation and nourished by four years of artistic research and dialogue with other lactating persons, the project unfolds as a visual manifesto. From a queer, non-binary perspective, Ev challenges the invisibility and idealization of lactation: long represented through male-dominated iconographies of the Virgo Lactans, and reclaims it as lived, shared, and political experience.

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Curated by: Azad Asifovich

Commissioned by: Charlotte Crevits​

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Hommage to Alexandra Leroy (artist's child)

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EXHIBITION PROGRAM​

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Visits  with the artist & curator: 7.11 2pm & 13-14.12

Hospitality and radical welcome (November - January): Anne Wetsi Mpoma

Public program (January): Mathilde Cohen, Tobias Van Royen, JUBILEE – platform for artistic research

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Acknowledgements: Shahnaz Aghayeva, Filotesi (Cola) dell’Amatrice, Claire Anceau, Azad Asifovich, Alison Bartlett, Hélène Brethon, Véronique Bourgeon, Rachel Buller, Alonso Cano, Nico Cauwenberghs, Mathilde Cohen, Charlotte Crevits, Jess Dobkin, Oona Doyle, Fathia El Jallouly, Eye Mama Project, Barbara Formis, Guy Gypens, Hvalenka d’Angély, Hermine Couturou, Ciel Grommen, Gabriel Greff, Ronny Heiremans, Ali Hassanzadeh, Ann Hoste, Ivan Isaev, Melanie Jackson, JUBILEE – platform for artistic research, Elizaveta Konovalova, Roos Kooi, Chantal Laine, Christine Lafarge, Bérénice Letourneur, Romy Louise Lauwers, Esther Leslie, Andrea Liss, M.A.M.A., Maillard & Maillard, Chloé Maillet, Solange Manche, Marise De Maeyer, Sarah Michel, Caroline Morcel, Anne Wetsi Mpoma, Lulù Nuti, Jennifer Page, Aline Piemontesi, Nina Pertsov(a), Sylvie Pliszczak, Natalia Protassenia, Adrienne Roger Jaffé, Maximiliaan Royakkers, Alyssa Rosenberg, Sandrine Sansano, Hélène Schmidt, Marilyne Schied, Miriam Simun, Cédric Simoneau, Nat Skoczylas, Sasha Streshna, Glenn Suys, Leah deVun, Julie Van Elslande, Liliane Van Der Velde, Tobias Van Royen (TWIIID), Beth Walton, Mélanie Weill, Jesse Van Winden, Sarah Whicker, the artists and curators of Darker, Lighter, Puffy, Flat (Kunsthalle Wien, 2022), the unknown authors of female, cult, fertility and other figurines idols from the Upper Palaeolithic period (often referred to in western tradition as “Venus”); the creators of Byzantine frescoes, Western European medieval miniatures and engravings; and all other artists, writers, and art workers who have informed, inspired, and contributed to this exhibition.

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Deep special thanks: to all my Trans and Queer friends and to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community 

... and to the Spirit of the Maternal Milk​

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With support of: 

the Flemish Government (de Vlaamse Gemeenschap)

the Flemish Community Commission (VGC) 

Féderation Wallonie Bruxelles

Jubilee - platform for artistic research

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‘Who sees? From where do they see? For whom? ’

"Lactating Bodies 20251031–0201 opens as a narrative of lived experiences that artist Katya Ev Anton draws from the body and translates into form. She presents a succession of intimate situations rendered visually, in which milk - this primal substance, almost always hidden from view - becomes a surface for thought, a catalyst of unease, a mirror where childhood gleams through and adults, in spite of themselves, see their own reflection. The artist navigates the grey zone between what one hides and what one reveals, between disgust and indulgence -  the moment when one looks away and the moment when the image insists - reminding us that every gaze is situated, embedded in a body, a history, a power: ‘Who sees? From where do they see? For whom?’ as Haraway might say, when the organic compels theory to go back to matter [...] ". Azad Asifovich

>> full version of the text here

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Leaks and Labor : On the Material Politics of Lactation

'Katya Ev’s Lactating Bodies articulates a de-romanticized and critically engaged perspective on lactation, framing it as a site of socio-political inquiry and gendered embodiment. The project disrupts idealized, sanitized, and often heteronormative representations of breastfeeding by centering the lived realities of lactating bodies, including the messiness, labor, and discomforts that are rarely made visible. By incorporating elements such as leaking milk, breast pumps, stains, and other visceral details, Ev opens space for a broader, more inclusive discourse around care, corporeality, and reproductive labor [...]"  Mathilde Cohen

>> full version of the text here

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“Does milk (here, specifically breastmilk) somehow make or remake the experience of modernity or postmodernity? Who is reminded that they are a ‘human-animal’, and how does this reminding occur? And if these questions reveal some of milk’s unexpected aspects [..]1 Human milk is a highly gendered bodily "product" that can be consumed, given away or sold. The very concept of milk is, as a primary food, the paradigm of purity, gift and innocence. However, milk is particular in that, unlike other foods, it is also a form of body labor. Breastfeeding and milk pumping are generally invisibilized (if not impossible) gestures in the public sphere and in professional contexts. At the same time, lactation is advocated in European countries as a moral requirement and a strong social norm. Katya Ev Anton

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1 Jeanne Firth, ​​‘A Month of Our Own: Amplifying Women’s Voices on LSE Review of Books’, 2018

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