I just got in from an airplane trip with my one and a half year old and my three year old.  Although it wasn't a long flight, I was really dreading it because I was flying by myself... with two kids.  Anyone who has kids understands what amount of gear they come with, as much as you might try to pack light!  Here are some essentials which I found extremely useful on our journey.

10.  Hoodies- Airplanes can be cold, hoodies are warm and comfortable.  You can sleep in them with no discomfort.

9.  Small toy airplane- This came in quite useful for explaining what was going on: i.e. the airplane is taking off, the airplane is in some turbulence, the airpane is landing. 

8.  Baby Wipes- I prefer to use washcloths at home, but baby wipes proved to be indispensable on the airplane, partly to clean the sticky fingers due to...

7.  Snacks-  This might be fairly obvious, but I was very thankful to have lunch packed, as well as a container of fresh strawberries.  It helps pass the time, and most airlines don't serve lunch anymore.

6.  Picture books- my favourites are In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendeck, A Glorious Day, by Amy Schwartz, and On a Wintry Morning by Dori Chaconas.

5.  A Broad Repertoire of Songs- This may annoy other passengers on board, but songs are an excellent way of boosting morale and keeping kids occupied.

4.  Hand puppets- literally.  If you have a pen, even a ball point pen, you can draw a simple face onto your closed fist.  Just make the closed part between your first finger and your thumb into the mouth, and draw two eyes above it.  This puppet can be combined with the previously mentioned repertoire of songs, for maximum annoyance for surrounding passengers, and maximum enjoyment by your children.

3.  Maya Sling-  This one is very close to the top 10 most useful item for travelling with a baby.  I found my sling indispensable.  I used it to carry my daughter and keep my hands free for bags and to hold my son's hand.  It can also double as a blanket for a tired child, and a nursing cover, if you feel you need one.  In a pinch you could even rig it as an extra carry on bag. 

2.  Lots of Liquids-  Unfortunately the new security regulations make it very difficult to provide enough liquid for your children.  You cannot bring water or juice onto the plane, but instead need to rely on the airline staff to provide it for you.  This means you need to make yourself into a royal pain by demanding larger portions of water, insisting on refills and otherwise annoying the staff as well as other passengers.  Of course for younger children there is another source of liquid... which leads to.... 

1.  Two Functioning Breasts-  The top most important item for travel with two young children is a pair of functioning breasts.  It's common knowledge that the best way to combat the effects of the change in pressure from landing and taking off is by sucking on something.  What could be more handy or more versatile than breastfeeding?  If you're not breastfeeding you might want to bring a teething toy, a bottle, or some kind of suck-able food item for older kids. 

If you happen to be seated beside Barbara Walters just make sure to paste a warm smile on your face, and an armory of breastfeeding slogans on your lips.  You have just as much right to breastfeed as your neighbour has to eat in the seat next to you.  More in fact, since if you were to cease it might result in a screaming nightmare for every passenger on the flight.  It might do well to remind people that on flight breastfeeding is in their own best interests for this reason.

My first experience of breastfeeding was when I first nursed my son in the hospital after my caesarean.  His tiny head, swollen and mishapen after spending two days wedged against my cervix, his tiny hands almost like an old person's hands after living underwater for so long, his face was wise as only newborns and the elderly are.  It was a moment of wonder, and pain, and joy.  I was aching after surgery.  I nursed him in the football hold, his body on one side to avoid hurting my incision.  The suction caused my uterus to contract, both a painful and a wonderful feeling of release, emotional and physical. 

I had spent a few years in a state of yearning for that moment.  I had suffered several miscarriages and a molar pregnancy, I had felt for so long as though my body were the enemy, as though my body could betray me at any moment.  The moment I nursed my son everything changed; suddenly my body was my friend, my breasts were competent and friendly, my baby was beautiful.  As a small breasted women I've also always felt somewhat sub-par, a little less than a real woman.  The moment my new baby latched on all those feelings of inadequacy disappeared too.  I felt about as womanly as I could possibly feel, overflowing with joy and bliss and sensuality in the purest sense. 

It was that moment that I decided to start The Madonna and Child Project  I hadn't fully formulated my concept at that point, but I wanted to express the joy and awe I felt as a new mother, and I could think of no better form than the classical Madonna and Child theme.  As an artist and a mother I've had to struggle to balance both worlds.  There were times when I actually continued to breastfeed my child as I completed my projects- a true case of art imitating life!  Sometimes I felt frustrated and harried as every mother does when trying to balance work and life, and sometimes I've felt guilty for wanting to do art when my children need me more.  Most of the time I find my work and my children are symbiotic to each other- they relate so closely to each other that I have trouble separating the two.  My experiences as a mother inform my artwork, and I think my artwork contributes to my experiences as a mother in turn.

Not every moment was magical of course.  I had days in which my breasts were aching and engorged and every item of clothing I owned was stained with breastmilk.  My sheets were soaked at night, and I struggled with feelings of irritation or disgust at my own wonderfully productive body.  Then there were other moments in which I would feel the most overwhelming love while nursing.  I remember specifically nursing my daughter in bed while she was only a few days old... thinking... no FEELING with my whole body "I love you!"  People explain that rush as a release of oxytocin and other hormones, but I prefer to believe that it's something more than that.  It felt almost like I was experiencing something transcedent, something of the divine- God if you will.  I think there is just a touch of the divine involved in the best parts of motherhood.  For some that involves bathing a child, looking into their eyes and hearing their laughter.  For me that also involved nursing, and that is what I have attempted to express through my art.

This story is so absurd I almost laughed when I first read about in the New York Times.  Yesterday Chiara Pozzi Perteghella, a pharmacist from Bassano del Grappa in Italy, was not allowed to breastfeed her 3 month old baby while taking an exam.  The exam was long- 5 hours in total, and they refused to make any special allowances for her to nurse her baby during that time.  They claimed that it would disrupt other students, yet they wouldn't provide her a separate room.  They said she could leave to breastfeed the baby and come back, but they would not make up the time she might loose during these breaks. 

So that sounds bad, but get this- the exam was for certification as a BREASTFEEDING advisor!

 Their new policy is about involving mother in society, making it possible to breastfeed anywhere, integrating mothers and babies instead of excluding them.  In fact this year's IBLCE meeting in Chiara's home town was titled: "Women and their breastfeeding choices: cultural changes and practical support systems."  All very ironic considering Chiara's treatment during one of their exams.  Chiara herself said: 

"I regret to say that I will not sit the exam, because I don’t think such discrimination and inconsistency should be tolerated and because I don’t like to be qualified as a breastfeeding expert by people who showed they know nothing about it."

The following art piece by artist Amy Jenkins was censored from a New York art gallery in May 2004.

"The Audrey Samsara" Amy Jenkins, 2004

I was looking up "breastfeeding Artwork" online one evening when I found this photograph.  I looked up her website right away, hoping to find out more about the "Audrey Samsara," which is the title of the artwork.  The actual piece is a video of her baby Audrey nursing, falling asleep, waking to breastfeed and fall asleep again.  It's a meditative and soothing loop, much like the Buddhist cycle of life and death for which it was named.  I also noticed from the website that this artwork had been censored from an exhibition in New York, and I decided to contact the artist.

I spoke to Amy Jenkins on the subject and she told me she was surprised by the reaction to her artwork.  The artist and mother had been asked to do a piece for designer Salvatore Ferragamo to display in their 5th Avenue art gallery.  She was asked to use an item from the store as inspiration, and was granted full artistic license.  Amy fell in love with a little pair of red shoes named "The Audrey," and felt that it was meant to be, since her own eighteen month old baby girl was also named Audrey.

Amy earned her MFA at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, but also spent some time in Florance Italy, where she completed a certificate in Fine Arts.  She felt a kind of affinity for the italian background of the famous shoe designer, and agreed to create a piece for the art gallery upstairs.  Her work is mostly photography and video installation; meditative and timeless loops involving  themes of family, childbearing, relationships and discord.  They are often both serene and disturbing; surreal yet familiar. 

 
The video she created for them was a video of her daughter wearing the red shoes, nursed by a dark figure, so that the baby appears almost to float in mid air.  Amy told me that this peice was especially meaningful to her; she called it a "tender record" of her breastfeeding experience, and was shocked by the reaction it incurred.  The image evokes the timeless archetype of the Madonna and Child in a modern context.  It also reflects the classical religious theme of the "Pieta," (a depiction of the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Christ.) 

La Pieta- Michaelangelo, 1499

A few hours before the scheduled opening of the show in May 2004, Amy was informed that her work had been removed.  An executive found the artwork to be "distasteful" and refused to exhibit it as planned.  Amy and her family bravely attended the gallery opening, hoping to speak to someone and resolve the issue, but no one would speak to her about it.  They would not explain why it was considered "distasteful," and nothing was done by way of apology.  Amy herself wonders if it has something to do with the fashion aesthetic of the designer store- the fact that the breasts depicted in her work were functional rather than visual.  She wonders if people are so used to seeing breasts used for marketing purposes and that the sight of breastfeeding makes people uneasy. 

I personally also wonder if we as a society are unused to seeing the female nude from a female perspective.  Breastfeeding is very much a feminine experience of the female body; it doesn't involve men or sex, and can be very personal, subjective and intimate.  I would venture to guess that we as a society are unused to seeing the female nude from a female point of view; with a female gaze, if you will.  The female nude as the subject rather than an object is unfamiliar to us visually, and invokes discomfort in the viewer.  Perhaps the public, men and women alike, are used to seeing the female breast as an object of desire, and the breast from the inward, personal perspective of the woman doing the breastfeeding is unusual to us.

Whatever the reason the reaction was the same.  The artist was excluded, her point of view was rejected.  The Audrey Samsara, a beautiful timeless piece, was denied to the public.  As Amy Jenkins said- the flatscreen monitor which was meant to show her work was like "a black hole" in the gallery during the opening.  She went on to have several articles published on her story, she had plenty of public support and found many other suitable venues to share The Audrey Samsara.  I think ultimately it shows that her work is effective.  It obviously created a reaction and made people think and talk about an issue that deserves attention.  What started as a simple, beautiful moment between mother and daughter became something which shocked and also moved and inspired people.  What more can we ask from an artist than that?