at Audible Garden, Korean Culture Centre UK, London, UK, JUL 21 - 13 OCT, 2023
The sculptures employ the symbol of an abandoned plastic milk bottle to draw attention to the paradoxes that pervade our conceptions of the 'natural.' It, cast from an everyday milk bottle, stands as a testament to our reliance on man-made materials. Intriguingly, while the milk it was designed to contain arises from an organic process, the plastic bottle itself is an artificial product, linked to environmental harm. The tension between these opposing elements invites the viewer to question our current distance from the natural. A sustenance produced by female mammals for their offspring and its consumption by human adults, particularly from different species, is an inherent oddity. The aspect of our evolutionary journey, emphasized by the relatively recent development of lactose tolerance in certain human populations, highlights the artificiality embedded in our interactions with nature. Milk has also carried profound cultural and spiritual symbolism throughout history, signifying life, fertility, purity, and even divinity. Despite this, the manner in which we gather, process, and consume it is starkly artificial process. Black Milk re-examines our relationship with the objects we consume and our interactions with the natural world around us.
Photo by Dan Weill, Courtesy of the KCCUK
& Sungbaek Kim