Janine Antoni’s Umbilical & 2038

Janine Antoni’s sculpture Umbilical and photograph 2038 are an excellent example of conceptual unity. The sculpture Umbilical is a silver cast of Antoni’s mouth around a spoon, which is held in a cast of the artist’s mother’s hand. This image immediately calls to mind the nurturing relationship between mother and child. A similar theme is present in Antoni’s photograph 2038, in which the artist appears to be nursing a cow as she sits in an old bathtub. While this image presents a similar nurturing relationship, it also fuses the role of cow and mother. In my opinion the second image is particularly unsettling, however the conceptual message conveyed by both works remains very clear.