MILK! – Mutter_schafft!

Rebekka Costa’s art is an uncompromising confrontation with the reality of constant presence. It is the experience of a profound, existential bond where customary freedom gives way to unconditional devotion.

Her works map the intricate web of daily creation and a new intensity—a process in which navigating everyday life stands alongside the great wonder of enabling life for a tiny human being.

The Symbolism of Milk and Identity

The exhibition's title—MILK!—serves as a central symbol of this fundamental necessity. Milk is the primal nourishment, the only thing a woman can give to sustain growth. Yet, within this nourishing power, a radical question of identity manifests: What is a contemporary mother actually supposed to be today?

Costa illuminates the tension between societal expectations, personal aspirations, and the internal breaking point. It is a struggle against the fear of failure and a rebellion against an inner transformation that radically challenges the "old self."

A Radical Turning Point

Rebekka’s journey began with the adoption of three siblings; the birth of her son, Kahlo, completed this transformation overnight. It felt like the birth of four children at once—an immensity that shattered every previous sense of identity.

Amidst this radical new beginning, life collided with death: the loss of her father demanded a space for mourning, yet the relentless presence required of a mother claimed that space for itself. While the "old self" sought the opportunity to simply pause, the new role enforced absolute consistency. The literal act of breastfeeding (Stillen) left no room for the stillness (Stille) that her father’s death required.

Raw Presence and the Skeleton of Life

This experience sharpened her gaze for pure necessity: the framework that holds our innermost selves together when everything else falls away. Her works and sculptures shun all complacency; they demand a form of steadfastness.

Skeletal references appear repeatedly throughout her works. They represent life and death combined: a symbol of the end, but also the vital structure that supports the daily balancing act between the necessity of functioning and internal dissolution.

Beyond the Ideal

Under the theme Mutter_schafft! (a play on "Motherhood," "to Create," and "to Manage"), Rebekka Costa deconstructs the idealized image of motherhood.

In the monumental sculpture "ROCKING HORSE, ONLY FOR TAME MOTHERS," this state becomes physically tangible. It embodies a massive internal urge to move forward that remains frozen in a rocking motion—a powerful movement that stays in place, taming the "old self" through the rhythm of repetition.

"In my art, I process the entire spectrum of being:

feelings, emotions, and the unresolved,

as well as heartbreak, hopelessness, and grief—

but also those moments of deep happiness and

quiet hope that carry it all."