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Text by: Janine Antoni

Wean consists of six concave impressions in a wall. From left to right, the first is Antoni’s breast, the second is her nipple, the third are three latex nipples used for baby bottles, and the last is the store packaging that contained the three latex nipples. Mapping a territory that Antoni has been exploring ever since, the concave impressions begin with the body and trace its evolution within the culture.

The title, Wean, speaks to the baby’s separation from the mother.  Read as a sentence, the moment between the real nipple and the latex nipple is, for Antoni, the crux of the work.  “All the objects that I deal with in my art are somewhat like the latex nipple. The nipple mediates our intimate interaction with our bodies.  At times, the nipple replaces the body, but more importantly, it locates the body within our culture.” With the latex nipple, Antoni focuses our attention on our separation with our own bodies as we are weaned into culture.

2038 (click white arrow in image window above to view next image) is a self-portrait in which Antoni sits in a bathtub that is used as a trough for cows to drink.  In this image, the cow drinks as if it were nursing from Antoni’s right breast. “The cows were drinking out of ‘my’ tub, and in turn I drink from the cow,” Antoni has said. “When the picture was taken, it looked as if I was nursing the cow. I was ecstatic when our relationship had come full circle.”

The tag in the cow’s ear both names it 2038 and reveals its identity as a biological machine. As a title, 2038 stands in contrast to the tenderness of the image.  “It is interesting to me that I was weaned off my mother and onto the cow,” Antoni says.  “Making the photograph allowed me to experience this intimate relationship: the cow becomes a wet nurse, a surrogate mother of sorts.”