A poetic articulation of a mother-daughter relation, where everyday observations are mixed up with both tender and violent gestures, creating a compelling and thoughtful narrative exploring notions of care. The film centres around the caregiving femme body, always in motion in different forms of reproductive labour in a domestic space. Household labour, childcare - a series of repetitive actions and gestures that seemingly never cease. The title Mother’s Milk refers to that which is subconsciously passed on and inherited over generations.

Mindepartementet 2019 - group exhibition
Vita kuben, Umeå 2019 - solo exhibition
SVILOVA/NSFW 2019 - solo exhibition (online)

stadtprojektionen 2020, St Galler, Switzerland

Video Art Festival Turku 

66 International Short Film Festival Oberhausen

Distribution: Filmform

Critic and writer Frida Sandström’s essay on Mother’s Milk for SVILOVA/NSFW

The film is projected onto a latex “screen”, that interrupts the projection, and the possibility of a single, coherent narrative. The projection then bleeds outside of the screen onto the wall behind it, creating a space between the two projections of the same image. The latex screen is held up with two C-stands, equipment used for lighting in film and photo shoots, referring to the notion of “staged domesticity” and the performativity of gendered roles. Shown as part of the exhibition Repetitions over time and with force, a solo MA graduation show from the Royal Institute of Art. Awarded the Bonniers Stipendium grant from the Royal Institute of Art.

Photo credit: Milja Rossi

Photo credit: Jean-Baptiste Béranger

Written, directed & edited by Sophie Vuković
With Bahareh Razekh Ahmadi & Julia Grönstrand
DoP: Milja Rossi
Sound Design: Shida Shahabi
Production Design & Costume: Erik Thörnqvist
Sound technician: Hannah Reinikainen Bergenman
Assistant camera: Neil Wigardt
FAD: Philip Dufva
Production assistant: Daniel Rubenstein

< back