Milk Factory
Published by Saint Lucy Books (2025)
Hardcover: 9 × 11.5 inches / 130 pages
Designed by Luminosity Lab
ISBN: 979-8-9899602-4-8
Available for order at Saint Lucy Books
First Edition, limited edition to 750 copies
Milk Factory records the invisible labor inside America’s lactation rooms, taking viewers into disparate sites such as a prison, banking firm, farm laborers’ tent, schools, an airport, and the U.S. Capitol. Botz’s photographs honor this unrecognized labor and challenge romanticized portrayals of motherhood, reflecting contradictions inherent in modern parenthood and public policy. The photographs are accompanied by essays from Corinne Botz, Hettie Judah, and Mathilde Cohen, along with first-hand accounts of pumping experiences from women across the socio-economic spectrum. The images and texts subtly comment on the power relationships that exist at the intersection of women’s bodies with employment and politics. The solitary pumping experiences take on collective power through the accumulation of photographs and text. Deeply personal and political, Milk Factory is an embodied study of reproductive labor and the architecture of care.
“Corinne Botz’s Milk Factory is a powerful testament to one of humanity's most fundamental acts of creation. In Milk Factory, the artist transforms the intimacy and quiet heroism of breastfeeding and pumping into a collective wisdom and community good, emphasizing the significant contribution of this maternal labor to the American economy—a contribution undervalued by policymakers and economists. Botz’s work is both deeply personal and urgently political, as support for the miracle of human milk production is essential to the health and welfare of the environment and future generations.”
- Sarah Thornton, sociologist of culture and author of Tits Up: The Top Half of Women’s Liberation and Seven Days in the Artworld
“We’ve talked a lot on the show about how public policy impacts working moms, but actually seeing the stark differences in what it means to have or not have mandated accommodations is incredibly moving (and enraging!). If you’ve ever resented pumping at work, I highly recommend checking out this gorgeous book. It’ll make you realize that in hidden spaces all over the globe, people are finding ways to extract milk from their bodies, just like you.”
- Hillary Frank, creator of the podcast The Longest Shortest Time
“Botz’s pictures indicate that institutions generally do not offer adequate accommodations (the exception proves the rule). That said, I came away from Milk Factory thinking less about institutional shortcomings than the ways in which mothers create their own sense of comfort, dignity, and connection—to their children and to one another—even in less-than-ideal circumstances.”
- Matt Moment, Impulse Magazine
