Milk Factory: A Visual Exploration of America’s Lactation Rooms

“Milk Factory,” published by Saint Lucy Books, is a photographic and essay collection that documents lactation rooms across the United States. Author Corinne May Botz photographed spaces where mothers pump—ranging from a prison, corporate offices, a farm-worker’s tent, schools, an airport, to the U.S. Capitol—using a large-format film camera. The work pairs the images with essays by writer-curator Hettie Judah and legal scholar Mathilde Cohen, as well as first-hand accounts from women in diverse professions.

Ms. (Magazine)

The project situates itself within a broader cultural expectation that women breastfeed while simultaneously framing caregiving as an individual, private responsibility. By foregrounding the physical environments of pumping, the book highlights the gap between public rhetoric about breastfeeding and the limited institutional support provided to mothers in workplaces and public settings.

Ms. (Magazine)

The book records testimonies from a business consultant carrying a pump between meetings; a bartender using a supply closet; a teacher rushing between classes; a nurse who pumped during the New York City Marathon; a prison doula at Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women; a police officer describing a hostile pumping environment; a musician, a cosmetic nurse, and an opera-house administrative associate. These narratives span socioeconomic strata and occupational contexts, illustrating how lactation infrastructure—or its absence—affects daily labor.

Ms. (Magazine)

Botz deliberately excludes mothers from the photographic frame, focusing instead on the rooms, objects, and architectural details. This conceptual choice redirects attention from the maternal body to the surrounding environment, aiming to generate a “more complex form of empathy” for the conditions of care work. The large-format film technique, traditionally used for interiors and still lifes, reinforces the deliberate, measured documentation of each space.

Ms. (Magazine)

By assembling solitary pumping experiences into a collective portrait, the work provides visual and textual evidence of how caregiving labor is organized, regulated, and often marginalized. The inclusion of legal and economic commentary seeks to position these everyday spaces as sites of political relevance, challenging romanticized narratives of motherhood and prompting reconsideration of public responsibility for parental care.

Ms. (Magazine)

Botz describes the book as an “interdisciplinary project” that examines the economic, legal, and emotional realities of contemporary parenthood. She states that the aim is to give participants a record of their labor and to make that labor visible to a broader audience. The accompanying essays and testimonies are intended to transform personal experiences into “political evidence” that can inform discussions about workplace accommodations and public policy.

Ms. (Magazine)

• “What do lactation rooms say about a society that expects breastfeeding but treats care as a private responsibility?” — Corinne May Botz, Building Manager

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• “(Steven Paneccasio / Creative Direction Luminosity Lab) I intentionally leave mothers out of the frame, creating conceptual portraits.” — Corinne May Botz, Building Manager

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• “Milk Factory includes testimonies of pumping experiences from women across the United States: from a nurse who pumped during the New York City Marathon, to a prison doula helping incarcerated mothers stay connected to their infants, to a police officer who was driven to the point of breakdown trying to pump milk in a hostile work environment.” — Corinne May Botz, Building Manager

Ms. (Magazine)

• “The interdisciplinary project examines the economic, legal and emotional realities of contemporary parenthood in a society that treats care as a private responsibility rather than a shared public good.” — Corinne May Botz, Building Manager

Ms. (Magazine)

“Milk Factory” is available for purchase through Saint Lucy Books.

Ms. (Magazine)