Milk is a bodily fluid produced by mammals in order to feed their young. This exhibition focuses on two mammals in particular - humans and cows. It is in one sense undeniably natural for human babies to drink human milk - but what are the implications of this in our complex social societies? Drinking the milk of other animals has also been badged as 'natural', pure and wholesome but does this image stand up to scrutiny?
The exhibition Milk at the Wellcome Collection in London from 30th March to 10th September, offers a much-needed debunking of commonly held ideas about milk and encourages reflection on how such ideas are perpetuated. Divided into themes, rather than offering a chronological approach to thinking about the topic, the exhibition covers : ‘the story of milk’, ‘the milk problem’, ‘good health’, ‘scientific motherhood’, and finally, ‘the cost of milk’.
The exhibition is especially good at demonstrating the rise of the dairy industry in Europe and Northern America, notably in the 20th century. The shelves of cow-shaped creamer jugs,with contented cows happily offering up their milk are a good starting point for unpicking our traditional images of dairy products and how these perceptions have been created. Despite mass marketing telling the consumer that dairy milk is ‘natural’, two thirds of the population of the world have some difficulty in digesting cow’s milk. Imagery of the mechanization of the dairy industry tells a story that looks far from ‘natural’. A picture of a woman next to a machine filling up tins with powdered milk demonstrates this particulalry clearly.
Cow's milk was contaminated with dirt and diseases such as tuberculosis until well into the 20th century. This meant it was responsible for high mortality rates, notably amongst poorer communities. However, much progress was made in combatting this and milk became a product associated with optimal health. The advertising campaign using the poster Milk: The Backbone of Young Britain (designed by James Fitton for the Ministry of Food, UK, 1945-51) leaves the viewer in no doubt that milk is linked to growth and strength. The Ministry of Information video from 1942 World of Plenty seems Orwellian in its appeal to its audience to eat well in order that the nation remain strong. The exhibition is a treasure trove of advertisements – posters and videos – which would be of interest to those who study marketing as much as those with an interest in food history.
The whiteness of cow's milk and its connotations of racial purity is examined in some detail. The artist Luke Turner provides the most striking example of this. He filmed a far-right supremicist group soon after Trump's inaugaration as president in 2017. His video of a group of while males stripped to the waist, drinking large cartons of milk as a symbol of 'purity' is deeply disturbing. A butter advertisement from the 1920s tells us that Hoover argued that the ‘white race cannot survive without dairy products’. And the poster Every member of our family drinks milk offers a powerful image of a white family drinking milk. Here, the whiteness of milk and the whiteness of the family equate with a supposed ‘ideal’ for viewers to aspire to.
Turning to the issue of human milk, there is good coverage of the idea of ‘Scientific motherhood’ , with images of the Truby King clock indicating timings for infant feeding. However, this is not the only way nursing one’s child has been advocated and the exhibition could have explored this further. There is little sense of the psychoanalytic perspective on breastfeeding, which sees it wrapped up with infant desires and as a deeply emotional experience. Reflection upon infant feeding practices before the late nineteenth century are similarly lacking. More might have been made of perceptions of breastfeeding as a spiritual activity in earlier centuries. Whilst there was an image of Mother Mary squirting milk towards Saint Bernard to grant him wisdom, it was surprising not to see her feeding the infant Jesus – an image which abounds in Renaissance art. This said, the inclusion of an image from 1618 by Michael Maier in the book Atlanta Fugiens was very welcome. The motto above the illustration is: ‘The earth is her/his nurse’. A lactating woman is associated with fertility, nurturance, and charity and is here represented as the epitome of ‘Mother Earth’.
The exhibition successfully demonstrates how milk, both human and bovine, is deeply political - in the sense of being enmeshed in power structures. Issues around the exploitation of the cows are raised. One of the most shocking exhibits is a calf’s harness with protruding spikes, designed to dissuade its mother from letting it feed on her teats (in order to increase the amount of milk available for humans). We would have liked to have seen more about products such as soya and other plant-based milks which may be seen as offering some alternative to the mistreatment of animals in the dairy industry. The exploitation of women is also considered: Conway and Young’s Milk Report from 2019 documents the 720 hours and 7 minutes Young spent breastfeeding over the 6 months following the birth of her child. The text accompanying this documentation explores the invisibility of women’s unpaid reproductive labour. Elsewhere, Liesel Burisch’s book of 2020, Queer Nursing, encourages the viewer to think inclusively about how infants are fed. Preferring the word ‘nursing’ to 'breastfeeding', it foregrounds issues such as induced lactation for all gender identities and the networks of caregivers that may be involved in infant care.
It is left to artwork to give some sense of the meaning breastfeeding holds for many women. Ilana Harris-Babou’s work, Let Down Reflux, shows images of cascading bubbles of milk set against the reflections of the artist’s mother and sister on breastfeeding as Black women. The installations at the very end of the exhibition, whilst thought-provoking, leave the visitor with a sense of breastfeeding in a futuristic world of science fiction as neon colours glare against the darkened background of the room. It is very far removed from the idea of breastfeeding as 'natural', which is, perhaps, the point being made here. It is in the gift shop that one encounters the perception that nursing one’s own child is a relational experience between child and caregiver. Tellingly, this perspective was especially evident in the books aimed at children.
Milk is a fascinating exhibition, which we thoroughly recommended. As with any good exhibition, there is much to reflect upon. The idea that milk is natural and apolitical is certainly challenged - and challenged well - at the Wellcome Collection .
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