Remofiloe Mayisela's 'Lipservice' Self-Portrait Series

South African artist Remofiloe Nomandla Mayisela photographs herself as Mrs Martha May, a costumed persona built around the South African concept of a makoti (wife), in a series called Lipservice. In the image MilkMaid, she stands before a wall of long-life milk cartons, face painted in dairy cow patches, balancing a crate on her head, rubber gloves and frilled apron over shweshwe fabric. The series uses food as its visual language, with milk specifically chosen for its layered associations: as something a woman produces, and as a commodity packaged and sold back.