One Woman’s Milk is Another One’s Poison

by Amy Meng

This photographic series began while I was experimenting with different ways of documenting a hollow paper sculpture I made, cast from balloons and toys. The series explores Melanie Klein’s Object Relations Theory, which regards the breast, the first object on which the infant is able to project their psyche and desires, as instrumental in shaping the inner development of the infant. I also explore Donald Winnicott’s concept of transitional objects – objects such as blankets and toys, which provide comfort and companionship to a child, and act as surrogates for their parents. The sculpture is a contemplation on the fragility of our inflated infantile tendency; a pale, polymorphous nostalgia which haunts our adulthood. The photographs are a further investigation of the tension between the “I” and the Other.

Amy Meng is an interdisciplinary fiber artist currently based in Sydney, Australia. She holds a Bachelor in  Architectural Studies from the University of New South Wales, and an MFA from the Fiber  department at the Cranbrook Academy of Art.