A few years ago, I visited my grandfather's grave for the first time and saw that it was covered with a cushion of jade plants. In El Espinal, Tolima, the graves resemble gardens, and within them grows the earth's strong intention to form a blanket over the bodies.
The work Body of Milk It's a mantle woven with milk threads that follows the shape of my grandfather's grave. With the milk weaving, I aim to reconstruct the material and emotional connection with the maternal. This gesture is born as a material expression charged with affection, seeking to give continuity to life in death and cover the body with the first material contact—elemental and primary—that we have at birth: food.
For three years now, I've been turning liquid milk into a solid yarn for weaving. Initially, I did this in a laboratory, but now I do it in the kitchen, reinforcing artisanal cheesemaking skills. To create this yarn, I use milk from a free-range farm in Alto del Vino, in the municipality of Facatativá.
In collaboration with artist María Alejandra Torres, I create each of the threads that make up the mantle and preserve them with salt. The thread is only allowed to weave while wet, then it becomes a bone. The weave follows the pattern of the "gathering knot." In this technique, no tools other than the hands are used; the index finger and thumb do the weaving.
The mantle engages in dialogue with works by guest artists that expand the imagination of milk and reflect on its materiality.
Juliana Góngora Rojas
