Heather Passmore: Roman Charity
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Vernon Public Art Gallery 3228 31 Ave, Vernon, British Columbia V1T 2H3
Heather Passmore: Roman Charity
Opening Reception: Thursday, January 16th from 6-8pm.
“Milk Portraits” series integrates silkscreen and milk paint to depict mothers who have covered their faces instead of their breasts while breastfeeding. The series includes three large self (effaced) portraits on fabric depicting the last time Passmore nursed her daughter. The images are based on photographs that circulated on social media in protest to admonishment that mothers should cover up while nursing in public. Nursing covers remain the only instance in which western women veil themselves. Discomfort with breastfeeding may arise from the fraught nature of human milk as a substance that is both nourishing and abject, or an inability to view breasts outside the scope of sexual gratification.