Milk

Kristina Leko, 2000
33' 30'' + 38' DV/beta SP
Two-channel video installation, wall projection and monitor (edition 2 + 1) / Optional: two-channel video installation expanded with an object installation and dairy products

Croatian

The work was created within the program of the Municipal Art Gallery of the Town of Slavonski Brod, Croatia, curated by fellow artist Ivan Šeremet.


Context / Artist Statement 

The work was created in collaboration with five dairy women from the village of Donja Bebrina: Ružica Blaževac, Marica Blaževac, Reza Blaževac, Mandica Stević and Eva Luketić. I spent a week in this traditional village to familiarize myself with their way of life. I filmed the five women in their everyday working environment and also helped prepare and filmed their video statements. We organized daily meetings of women from the neighborhood to discussed various topics. The overall theme was ethics and tradition in relation to family, work and money. It was one of my first so-called video-communication projects, where I worked with other people to create an artwork together, but also to create their personal video messages, i.e. statements. This means that the project participants themselves decide what to show and say and how, what is important, etc.

Synopsis

The first video channel (a wall-mounted video projection) shows the situation in the market hall in Slavonski Brod, a medium-sized town in northern Croatia. Here we see, one after the other, short portraits of twenty dairy women, recorded while they are selling their homemade dairy products, fresh cheese and cream. One by one we see the women in their traditional costumes, we observe their faces, hands, details of their outfits and their products. The second video channel (shown on a monitor) presents five of the women in their private environment. Here we follow the women through their village, at home, in their households and in the fields. We see situations related to dairy production. We witness their discussions about family, children, work, economics, and traditional lifestyles. In a short video statement, each of the women addresses the audience with her thoughts on an issue that is important to her.

 

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