Milkyways is a collection of essays by artist Camille Henrot, exploring the ambivalence of motherhood and the process of creation in both art-making and life. Each chapter delivers a cosmos of references in literature, cartoons, art history, psychoanalysis, and more—from ancient maternity myths to modern maternity wards; from Marcel Proust to Maggie Nelson to Hélène Cixous. Alongside illustrations of the artist’s work in painting, drawing, and sculpture, Henrot’s perspectives in writing oscillate freely between the personal and the societal, the obvious and the more complex, the visceral and the utterly mundane.

Milkyways was originally conceived for Republik magazine on invitation by Antje Stahl. Written with Jacob Bromberg, Antje Stahl, and Léa Trudel.

CAMILLE HENROT (*1978, Paris) is one of the most influential voices in contemporary art today, with a practice encompassing drawing, painting, sculpture, installation and film. Inspired by references from literature, psychoanalysis, cultural anthropology and the banality of everyday life, she questions what it means to be both a private individual and a global subject in an increasingly connected and over-stimulated world. Henrot has had numerous solo exhibitions worldwide in venues including Middelheim Museum, Antwerp; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; New Museum, New York; and Art Sonje Center, Seoul. She lives and works in New York City.