"Pump & Feed" is a performance ritual by Taja Lindley that comments on the labor of breastfeeding when returning to work after maternity leave.

 

This work is inspired by Lindley's younger sister who recently gave birth and navigated infant feeding postpartum as a special needs teacher for elementary school students.

 

We often hear "breast is best" yet postpartum folks are not always supported. This piece asks: how can we (better) support breastfeeding parents? What labor is required and by whom for this support? What systems and relationships need to transform so that postpartum folks are not shouldering this responsibility alone? 

​

In 2023, the live performance iteration debuted at the virtual event "We Are Each Other's Harvest: Postpartum Nutrition and Infant Feeding."

​

In 2024, the performance film adaptation premiered at the Mama Needs A Raise! group exhibition in Brooklyn, NY.

 

Running time: 14 minutes, 9 seconds.

​

This work is part of the Black Women’s Dept. of Labor: a project and podcast about race, gender and the double entendre of labor - to work and to give birth. To listen to episodes and learn more about the project, click here.