Janine Antoni

Umbilical, 2000

Cast sterling silver of family silverware and negative impressions of artist’s mouth and mother’s hand

8 x 3 x 3 inches (20.32 x 7.62 x 7.62 cm)

Photographed by John Bessler

Umbilical examines the relationship between the mother’s body and that of the child. The silver spoon is an object that speaks of domesticity, ritualization and the fetishization of a tool used for a basic need. Using her family’s silverware, Antoni cast the inside of her adult mouth at the bowl of the spoon and the space inside her mother’s hand at the handle. The work traces the trajectory from body to home. As Antoni says, “At first I fed from my mother’s body and then from this spoon. Finally, it was passed down to me to feed others.”