Celebrating the many milks that begin mammalian life

​

A collaborative work with Kiki Tang during her internship at Deep Food

 

The Milky Ways translates the diverse milk compositions and lactation programmes of different mammalian species into a fashion-infused edible experience, fostering cross-species curiosity and understanding.

​

Milk is the first food in every mammal’s life: a substance that sustains life from its beginning. Yet contemporary ideas of milk are largely shaped by industrial agriculture and the widespread consumption of cow’s milk, to the point that “milk” is often assumed to mean cow’s milk by default. The Milky Ways expands this familiar understanding towards a more-than-cow view of milk and mammalian life.

​

The experience presents a selection of mammalian milks spanning striking differences in composition, structure and lactation programmes, translated into edible analogues for tasting. We selected seven species with remarkably different milk compositions, allowing the tasting experience to reveal some of the diversity found across mammalian milk. With Kiki’s knowledge of Nutrition and Medical Sciences, we studied the known composition of each species’ milk and developed edible replicas by looking carefully at what each milk contains and how those components might affect its texture, richness and taste.

​

The wearable milk bags in The Milky Ways grew from our research into the breasts and mammary structures of different mammals. Their forms were developed in response to the different bodies through which milk is produced and offered. The garment also features illustrations depicting lactation and nursing moments from the species we chose for the project. Their habitats gradually entered the patterns too, giving each species its own surrounding world. The drawings then moved across different forms as the project developed. They became graphic compositions, garment patterns, lace and crochet.

​

The project also marks a beginning of its own: Kiki Tang’s first work as an intern at Deep Food. Developed in collaboration with the studio, the project draws on her background as a bachelor’s student in Nutrition and Medical Sciences at UCL, bringing a scientific grounding to the creative exploration. Her curiosity about both food and fashion led us to blend our edible practice with her dream of fashion.

​

Through food and garment design, the work asks what it means to be nourished by, sustained by and physically entangled with another living body. Inspired by Donna Haraway’s idea of becoming-with, we became curious about how lives are formed through relationships with other lives. Ultimately, The Milky Ways explores co-being and entanglement through one of the most fundamental relationships shared across mammalian life: the interdependence between species, bodies and generations that begins with milk.

 

Showcased at the Food Art Fair and WhiteShepherd Gallery's 'Best Before' exhibition

​