Sigmund Freud would have a field day with Spanish-born/ Brooklyn-based artist, Viky Garcia’s series, Mothers Milk. She probably knows that, though; after all, she has a master’s in art therapy.
Mothers Milk features all-white tableaux of Garcia and her mother in various charged scenes of domesticity, “narratives that address psychological conflict.” In one, Garcia huddles in a refrigerator as her mother spews milk from her mouth. In another, the artist hangs suspended from a clothesline as her mother pins an octopus up beside her. The effect of the white-out aesthetic creates some interesting shades of white and cream and makes the contrast that much stronger when other colors make an appearance.
It’s not clear what the images are trying to say, nor whether they are fictional representations of Garcia’s relationship with her mother, but they are evidently quite personal. Nourishment is a theme throughout the series, represented through food but also through the image of Garcia watering herself as a potted plant.
There is a lot at work here that make for a great case study for any psychoanalyst, but let’s just hope that the act of creation proved as therapeutic for the artist as it is enjoyable for the viewer.
Garcia’s Mothers Milk recently had a solo show at NYC’s Ludlow Studios (organized by the international online gallery, Subject_).
Love Viky’s Mothers Milk series? Click here to check out the rest of her work, or follow her on Facebook.
