Sanne Freijdag

Gewone Melk (Ordinary Milk)

Cultivated human breastmilk microbial cultures
Archival inkjet print on fine art paper
59.4cm x 84.1cm

Sanne Freijdag (1991) works across textiles, installation, film, and photography. With a background in fashion, her artistic practice critically examines intersectional feminist perspectives on parenthood and community structures. Her visual language is defined by strong contrasts, combining neutral skin tones with deep blacks and vibrant colours to reveal both the physical and psychological dimensions of experience. At the core of her work is a questioning of so-called “traditions” surrounding motherhood, family models, and feminist discourse. By making visible suppressed female narratives – from witch hunts to birth practices and mythology – she challenges societal structures shaped by individualistic, patriarchal, and capitalist systems. Freijdag invites viewers to recognise the profound gap between imposed social norms and our human nature. She believes that parenting is deeply political and therefore deserves a critical and nuanced depiction.

Ordinary Milk visualises breastmilk as both biological and political labour. Cultivating and photographing microbial cultures from her own milk, the artist reveals its rich, unseen ecosystems, challenging taboos that render human milk invisible while other milks are normalised and commodified. The work exposes how capitalism devalues maternal care, treating breastfeeding as private duty rather than essential, skilled labour that sustains life and community.

freydag.com