The artist will lead a walkthrough of the exhibition on Friday, February 2 at 6pm during First Friday Artwalk (5 to 8pm). The exhibition will be on view January 16 through February 21.
Golden Thread re-envisions the video Let Down Reflex (2023) and Liquid Gold (2023), which has been exhibited as a video installation for Times Square Art Midnight Moment and also as a ceramics installation at the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery at Wesleyan University in early 2023, in a new site-specific arrangement that emphasizes the formal as well as conceptual relationship between the two.
In recent years, Harris-Babou has made artwork that interrogates the consumerism of the wellness industry, carefully balancing incisive critique with comedic levity. Within the works included in Golden Thread, the artist continues this trajectory and turns her commentary towards issues surrounding breastfeeding, and as Benjamin Chaffey wrote of the work for the exhibition at Wesleyan University, Harris-Babou highlights “the racialized social structures that create the parameters for an individual’s agency in making personal health decisions.”
Colostrum, the first form of breastmilk produced by the mammary glands after giving birth has been nicknamed “liquid gold,” due to its golden yellow color as well as the superior nutritive properties it provides to a newborn. Harris-Babou riffs on this moniker in her installation Liquid Gold (2023), which includes tightly shot video cuts of a frothy, bubbling, milky substance in various states of movement that are projected onto various screens. The videos are juxtaposed with an installation of ceramic objects that act as receptacles and transfer points for a similarly milky liquid pumped through clear, plastic tubing reminiscent of the tubing used in breast pumps.
In the video Let Down Reflex (a reference to the physiology of breastfeeding, originally commissioned by the Wellcome Collection) Harris-Babou explores the deeply personal choice to breast or formula feed, and how that choice has been shaped by current and historical societal forces. The video highlights recordings of her mother, sister, and niece who speak about their experiences with and perceptions of breastfeeding. Interspersed between their stories of Black motherhood and the deep bass sound of a heartbeat, they sing and ponder the lyrics of the lullaby All the Pretty Horses, a lullaby that is thought to have been sung by enslaved African American mothers to their children and recite excerpts from Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon.” The video was scored by British-Irish composer Anna Clock. This audio is set against the same intimate shots of the familiar milky substance as in Liquid Gold, as well as transparencies of objects that were historically used to assist women with breastfeeding, in which the artist arranges on an overhead light projector. Whether through the personal or universal, the familiar or absurd, Ilana Harris-Babou’s works offer multiple points of entry for viewers to consider the intricacies of Black motherhood.
About the Artist: Ilana Harris-Babou’s work is interdisciplinary, spanning sculpture, installation, and video. Her work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions throughout the US and Europe, including current exhibitions Needy Machines at Candice Madey, New York, and Under My Feet at Storefront for Art and Architecture. In May 2023, Harris Babou's work Liquid Gold took over the screens of Times Square for the Midnight Moment program. She has presented solo exhibitions of her work internationally. Institutions include: The Highline, NY (2022), Artspace, New Haven, CT (2022); Kunsthaus Hamburg, Germany (2021); ICA Chattanooga, TN (2021); and The Museum of Arts and Design, NY (2017). Her work has been included in the Istanbul Design Biennial (2020) and The Whitney Biennial (2019). Group exhibitions include The Wellcome Collection in London; California College of the Arts Wattis Institute, San Francisco; The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield among others. Harris-Babou lives and works in Brooklyn and Middletown, CT, and holds an MFA from Columbia University and a BA from Yale University.
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CEAM programming is supported through grants from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Dr. JoAnn Crisp-Ellert Fund at The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida, and the St. Johns County Tourist Development Council. Additional sponsorship is provided by VOCO St. Augustine, and IHG Hotel.
The Crisp-Ellert Art Museum is an accessible building. If you are a person with a disability and need reasonable accommodation, please contact Phil Pownall at 904-819-6460. Sign Language Interpreters are available upon request with a minimum of three days’ notice.
For further information on our programming, please visit the website at www.flagler.edu/ceam, or contact Julie Dickover at 904-826-8530 or crispellert@flagler.edu. The museum’s hours are Monday through Friday, 10 am to 4 pm, and Saturday, 12 to 4pm, while classes are in session.
