Janine Antoni

2038, 2000

C-print, artist's frame

20 x 20 inches (50.8 x 50.8 cm)

2038 is a self-portrait in which Antoni sits in a bathtub that is used as a trough for cows to drink. In the image, it looks as if the cow is nursing from her right breast. The artist writes, "I was ecstatic when our relationship had come full circle. I was weaned off my mother and onto the cow. Making the photograph allowed me to experience this intimate relationship: the cow becomes a wet nurse, a surrogate mother of sorts.”

The tag in the cow’s ear both names it 2038 and reveals its identity as a biological machine. As a title, 2038 stands in contrast to the tenderness of the image.