Carved Ceramic Sipper

These cups were included in the 2025 exhibition "Quantifying Care" as part of the piece entitled 622: A cup for every breast-feeding session, Q1. 

We talk about breast-feeding as being a free resource, but we fail to take into account the mother’s time energy and the physical toll takes on her body. Breast-feeding a baby for an entire year takes an average of 1,800 hours, a full-time job is roughly 2,000 hours. 
 
As part of my series "Quantifying Care," I asked a friend to tally her breast-feeding sessions for one fiscal quarter and then set out to make that number visible. Using her data, I crafted 622 hand carved ceramic cups. Each cup holds 2 ounces - the typical amount a newborn eats during a breast-feeding session. The glaze drips down the side of the vessel like milk from a satiated babies lips. 
 
Displayed together, they resemble the small cups used for Eucharist in the church, a symbol of nourishment and life. But while the priest oversees the sacrament with much pomp and circumstance and witness, the mother sits behind closed doors, baby at her breast and the world on her shoulders saying "take, eat. This is my body."