Pass the Cheese, Please

by Susan Davis on 24/04/09 at 9:19 am

Gives another meaning to queso tetilla

Cheese is the focal point of a new art exhibition at a London studio.  But it’s not just any cheese.  This is cheese made from human breast milk and it is served with crackers.

Mexican artist Raul Ortega Ayala named his piece “Alejandra Ortiz-Reynoso,” after the woman who donated her milk for the exhibit.  The cheese is designed to “explore our first encounter with food, emphasizing its territoriality and boundaries,” explains the artist, whose work is part of a group exhibition titled “At Your Service” at the David Roberts Art Foundation.

A spokesperson said, “He makes the cheese in the normal way — it’s just a standard process.”

And if anyone has any doubts that Alejandra Ortiz-Reynoso was not a willing participant in his artistic endeavors, Ayala assures us that the women who donate the milk do so voluntarily. “You can’t force a woman to lactate,” he said.

Spectators say the only thing missing from the cheese and cracker plate is a glass of wine.

Ayala’s previous exhibition was “An Ethnography on Gardening.”  He is now working on a series titled “Obituary Menus,” which will recreate the food that presidents, public figures, mass murderers and cave dwellers ate before they died.

We’ll keep you abreast about that exhibit.