SIYU AWARD
SIYU AWARD

Jagoda Wiśniewska
Mleko

Mleko is a long-term research project that is a reaction to my fascination with the substance of human milk and its elaborate nature. Milk is a surface on which the maternal body and its liquid nature are performed. In 2021 I gave birth to my first child, I found myself with a body that produced this biological liquid that was “designed” for the needs of my new child. I became fascinated by this substance, and by the fact that what I knew about my physical self has changed and transformed me, also in the eyes of others. I quickly realize that this simple, at core intimate act is highly political and social. Through this project, I explore human milk, but also all that flows with it: life source, physical pain, mental changes, overload of happiness, dependence, opinions, as well as social, psychological, and at core personal histories of the beginnings and endings. As Jacqueline Rose writes in “Mothers; An essay on love and cruelty”: “the supreme symbol of mother love is, of course, the breast, which reappears in modern discussions of motherhood”, which makes the subject of breastfeeding central and opinionated. Milk is bridging the gap between milk giver and child, between animal and human, between self and other, between myth and world. I investigate diverse perspectives on human milk, through photography, texts, video sound interviews with breastfeeding women, lactation experts, milk banks, and milk donors. I investigate diverse perspectives on human milk, through photography, texts, video and interviews with breastfeeding women, lactation experts, milk banks, and milk donors, shedding light on this fascinating, multilayered substance and its influential powers.

Jagoda Wiśniewska (b. 1987, Poland), is an artist working with photography and video, based in Lausanne, Switzerland. She holds an MA in Art Direction from ECAL and a BA in Photography & Film from Edinburgh Napier University. Her work explores intimate themes, layered dynamics of human relationships, the body and performativity in portraiture, womanhood, and the maternal. Psychology informs much of her research, particularly in understanding how images can become tools for self-reflection and emotional processing. Jagoda is interested in nonlinear storytelling. Her self-published photobook Czarna Madonna was shortlisted for MACK’s First Book Award, Unseen Dummy Award, and Kassel Dummy Award. Jagoda’s work has been exhibited and published across Europe, Japan, and the US, with solo exhibition at Photo Elysée in 2023, as well as many group shows including Verzasca Fotofestival, Rencontres d’Arles, and Les Boutographies. Alongside personal projects and family life, Jagoda balances her time with commissioned work, collaborating on editorial and artistic assignments.

Jagoda Wiśniewska
Mleko

Mleko is a long-term research project that is a reaction to my fascination with the substance of human milk and its elaborate nature. Milk is a surface on which the maternal body and its liquid nature are performed. In 2021 I gave birth to my first child, I found myself with a body that produced this biological liquid that was “designed” for the needs of my new child. I became fascinated by this substance, and by the fact that what I knew about my physical self has changed and transformed me, also in the eyes of others. I quickly realize that this simple, at core intimate act is highly political and social. Through this project, I explore human milk, but also all that flows with it: life source, physical pain, mental changes, overload of happiness, dependence, opinions, as well as social, psychological, and at core personal histories of the beginnings and endings. As Jacqueline Rose writes in “Mothers; An essay on love and cruelty”: “the supreme symbol of mother love is, of course, the breast, which reappears in modern discussions of motherhood”, which makes the subject of breastfeeding central and opinionated. Milk is bridging the gap between milk giver and child, between animal and human, between self and other, between myth and world. I investigate diverse perspectives on human milk, through photography, texts, video sound interviews with breastfeeding women, lactation experts, milk banks, and milk donors. I investigate diverse perspectives on human milk, through photography, texts, video and interviews with breastfeeding women, lactation experts, milk banks, and milk donors, shedding light on this fascinating, multilayered substance and its influential powers.

Jagoda Wiśniewska (b. 1987, Poland), is an artist working with photography and video, based in Lausanne, Switzerland. She holds an MA in Art Direction from ECAL and a BA in Photography & Film from Edinburgh Napier University. Her work explores intimate themes, layered dynamics of human relationships, the body and performativity in portraiture, womanhood, and the maternal. Psychology informs much of her research, particularly in understanding how images can become tools for self-reflection and emotional processing. Jagoda is interested in nonlinear storytelling. Her self-published photobook Czarna Madonna was shortlisted for MACK’s First Book Award, Unseen Dummy Award, and Kassel Dummy Award. Jagoda’s work has been exhibited and published across Europe, Japan, and the US, with solo exhibition at Photo Elysée in 2023, as well as many group shows including Verzasca Fotofestival, Rencontres d’Arles, and Les Boutographies. Alongside personal projects and family life, Jagoda balances her time with commissioned work, collaborating on editorial and artistic assignments.