Deep congratulations to artist, colleague & friend Corinne Botz on her expansive forthcoming exhibition of photographic and film work at Hudson Hall, 327 Warren Street, Hudson, New York, on view from October 11 - November 23, 2025.
I am drawn to Corinne's practice for its tireless excavation of hidden narratives embedded in spaces we think we understand. Her work is mysterious yet rooted in the everyday—she has a remarkable ability to make the familiar strange and the invisible urgent. From the forensic miniatures of The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death (The Monacelli Press, 2004) to the sterile corporate lactation rooms documented in Milk Factory, she transforms spaces of concealment—crime scenes, haunted domesticity, and the quiet architecture of motherhood—into sites of revelation.
The Nutshell Studies work emerged from her discovery of American forensic scientist Frances Glessner Lee's intricate dioramas used to train homicide investigators. Corinne's photographs of these miniature crime scenes reveal how one woman's obsession for detail pushed against an erasure of victims. These pictures remind us that violence, specifically in the domestic space, has been systematically studied yet simultaneously minimized. She approaches these tiny, contained worlds of trauma with visual precision and emotional intelligence. Botz wrote of Lee's craft(wo)manship "The models, which were based on actual homicides, suicides, and accidental deaths, were created to train detectives to assess visual evidence. The models display an astounding level of precision and detail: shades can be raised and lowered, mice live in the walls, stereoscopes work, whistles blow and pencils write."
In Milk Factory, (First prize, Pictures of the Year International, Documentary Daily Life Category, 2021) Botz turns her lens toward the uncomfortable reality of workplace "lactation rooms"—those often windowless, utilitarian spaces where working mothers pump breast milk. The work exposes the contradiction of a culture that celebrates motherhood in theory while deeply undermining it in practice. These aren't just photographs of rooms; they're portraits of institutional indifference in the wealthiest country in the world.
Building Manager, from Milk Factory by artist Corinne Botz
Her films extend this investigation into moving image, creating immersive experiences that pull viewers deeper into these worlds of hidden labor and concealed trauma. I'm particularly curious about audience responses to her film Bedside Manner (Grand Jury Prize, best short film, DOC NYC 2016), which carefully documents training mechanisms within medical education - specifically how doctors learn to perform empathy and bedside manner through role-playing exercises with "standardized patients" (professional medical actors). This film alongside her photographic work offers conversations between mediums that reveal new layers in her ongoing exploration of care, control, and visibility.
This exhibition offers a powerful moment to reflect on how her practice has grown into a sustained feminist critique that refuses to look away from uncomfortable truths. Corinne's work asks us to consider: What stories do spaces tell? In discomfort, what do we choose to see or ignore? How does the architecture of power shape women's lived experiences?
Hands, from Bedside Manner by artist Corinne Botz
I'm honored to be moderating the Q&A with Corinne following the screening of her award-winning short films Milk Factory and Bedside Manner on Friday, October 17 at 6pm, Hudson Hall, 327 Warren Street, Hudson, New York. As a longtime colleague in the mother-artist space, it feels especially meaningful to support her work in this way.
Milk Factory will be published fall 2025 by Saint Lucy Books.