Artist statement for Becoming MILF – Written by Madison Young
Artist Statement for Becoming MILF
written by Madison Young
Becoming MILF is an examination of the journey to motherhood surrounding the balance of one’s identity as both a sexual being and a mother. The exhibit showed on April 19th – May 1st 2011 at Michelle Oconnor Art Gallery in San Francisco California, and was presented by Femina Potens Art Gallery with funding by the California Arts Council, San Francisco Arts Commission, and Zellerbach Foundation. Thirteen new art works were created for this exhibit by myself and in collaboration with other local artists including Nancy Peach, Annie Sprinkle PHD, James Mogul, Malia Schlaefer, and my daughter, Emma Mogul, in mediums ranging from textile, video and photography to paint, soundscapes and found art.
At its core, Becoming MILF is an art exhibit about identity that navigates issues of motherhood and sex in an attempt to reclaim the word MILF to encompass a woman’s transformation into their post-partum sexual identity. It is a snap shot of the visual and sculptural manifestation of the first several weeks of motherhood.
One of the works of art in the Becoming MILF exhibit (which is one of a series of four photographic pieces) entitled “MILFing Marilyn” became a topic of controversy.
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Marilyn Monroe – Richard Avedon © 2009 The Richard Avedon Foundation
In this image I reference a well-known Richard Avedon portrait of Marilyn Monroe. This sexual iconography is used to explore my own morphing identity from a feminist sexual personality to nurturing mother by depicting myself as Marilyn Monroe breast feeding her child.
Bathtub Confessionals – Nancy Peach & Madison Young
This portrait allows the viewer into a moment of transformation, questioning, fear of the unknown, a mourning of her past and gazing into the future while embracing and nourishing her baby.
This work is reminence of Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills in which Sherman photographed herself as stereo-types or characters such as “house wife, actress, prostitute, woman in distress” to possibly explore these different characters that exist with in all of us.
This photographic work of myself and my daughter is a piece in which I constructed with the collaborative efforts of professional photographer and General Manager at Femina Potens Art Gallery, Malia Schlaefer.
Additional works in the exhibit included:
Bathtub Confessionals: I teamed up with painter Nancy Peach and photographer James Mogul to create a larger than life painting based on a photograph of me 9 months pregnant in my favorite pink slip in the bath tub. This painting was coupled with a soundscape of confessions about my relationship to my body during pregnancy.
Breast Milk Shakes: A performance art piece in which I sat in a corner of the Becoming MILF art opening, hand whisking whipped topping for milkshakes while pumping breast milk which was added to the desert. This performance uses traditional women’s work and the re-appropriation of breasts for nourishment to address our thoughts on breast-feeding. It spurred some fascinating conversations around nurturing versus sexualizing of breasts in the context of breast feeding and motherhood.
Porn Star Panty Quilt: This is a textile piece in which I sewed colorful panels of material together forming a small 5′x5′ quilt. On the quilt I sewed into the piece panties that I chronologically wore from my first trimester, second trimester, third trimester and post-partum. The panties tell a story of change, transformation and healing. Quilts are traditionally given as gifts at birth’s, are made with our hands and tell a story.
Post-Partum Pin-Up : In this photograph, I pose in a traditional pin-up fashion while wearing my nursing bra and full bottom panties. On the photograph I write out my flaws, insecurities, and battle wounds and embrace this change as part of my awkward transformation to motherhood.
See Full List of Exhibited Works
* Note due to time constraints several works listed in the original Press Release for Becoming MILF were not exhibited or performed including 30 Actions to Becoming MILF and Feminist Jazzercizing Pornographer
About the artist, Madison Young: My arts training and background informs the mediums in which I tackle both social issues as well as provides a vehicle of expression for processing my ever changing identity as a woman, mother, adult performer, and multi-dimensional human being.
I graduated with honors in the top ten percent of my class from art school at Cincinnati’s School for Creative and Performing Arts and majored in women studies and the arts at both Columbia College and Antioch College. I have exhibited my own visual art works across the country and have worked professionally as an artist for the past decade while also serving as the Executive Director and founder of the non-profit LGBT community art gallery, Femina Potens.
My professional trajectory spans past performing in over a hundred adult films and directing 26 films for my own production company and includes my contributions to the art world. Under the name Madison Young, I have handled the artistic curation of over a hundred art exhibitions over the past decade for not only Femina Potens Art Gallery but also The National Queer Arts Festival, SOMARTS, The SF LGBT Center, and the Traveling Erotic Art Show.
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Controversy arose when the Avedon inspired photograph “MILFing Marilyn”, shot by Malia Schlaefer, began to circulate on the internet. The black and white portrait portrays Madison, wearing a period dress, gazing quizzically to the side while breast-feeding her diapered child.
The image created a flurry of combative and vocal view points on numerous news sites and blogs on topics such as breast feeding in public, the sexualization of women documented breast feeding their children, and a child’s consent to participate in either political or artistic works or performances.
Says Young of the image, “An image which explores the identity of any sexual being is not inherently an erotic image. This portrait that depicts my sexual identity while breastfeeding is not intended to be erotic, its intended to demonstrate a shifting, transformation in identity.”
Young comments, “Consent is an essential part of any healthy form of communication or expression including art. This is why releases of either your subject or your subject’s guardian is essential in communicating the conceptual and contextual elements of the work in question.”
Young plans to publish a document regarding consent in relation to the creation of art with children including input by California Lawyers for the Arts and fellow professional artists that work with children as their subjects.
Other artists that have included their children in their art work and performance include Yoko Ono, whose daughter was a part of the famous Bed In and Sally Mann who was dubbed as the “Worlds Greatest Photographer” by Time Magazine for the intimate photos of her family including her 3 daughters and husband.
Young also plans to work with Femina Potens’ FP Family program, on providing a skill share and lecture with local lactation specialists and post-partum doulas who will provide resources on lactation support and laws around public and documented breast feeding (both in and out of art galleries).
Breast feeding is not new to the art world. The Gugenheim Museum has displayed photography of well known artist Catherine Opie breast feeding, while celebrity photographer Annie Liebovitz has photographed Playboy model, Jerry Hall, breast feeding for Liebovitz’s latest photography book “Women”. The cover of W Magazine portrayed Angelina Jolie breast feeding her twins, which inspired several art works including a nude public art sculpture by New York City based artist, Daniel Edwards.
Related Topics and Articles:
Miriam Simun – Human Breast Milk Cheese offered at New York Art Gallery
Annie Sprinkle – Post porn Pin up
BlogHer.com covers Becoming MILF
