Play Ground presents ‘Cow’ by British photographer Scarlett Carlos Clarke.

A limited-edition archival C-type print originating from Carlos Clarke’s Instagram post which documents the photographer’s donation to Hearts Milk Bank during the Covid-19 crisis, after the birth of her son. A shift away from her usual practice of working within stylised environments, Carlos Clarke stares directly at the viewer, exhausted yet fecund, these are the plain facts of motherhood.

Laying bare the maternal state, ‘Cow’ brings to mind filmmaker Andrea Arnold’s work of the same title, which depicts a heart-breaking point of view of a cow in the world of intensive dairy farming. Similarly, in the vein of photographer Nan Goldin’s unflinching artwork ‘From Here to Maternity’, 1986-2000, Carlos Clarke presents herself in a diaristic manner in this snapshot, void of glamour and production.

Scarlett was born in London, 1992. Her work is in the National Portrait Gallery collection and most recently had a solo exhibition at Cob Gallery, London, ‘The Smell of Calpol on A Warm Summer's Night’.