SURREALICONE: A Conversation Between Tall Milk & Une Maitresse Femme

Tall Milk
Jul 21
9 min read

Updated: Jul 21

TALL MILK in CONVERSATION with UNE MAITRESSE FEMME

PHOTOGRAPHY by UNE MAITRESSE FEMME

Une Maitresse Femme and Tall Milk have come together in creative exchange to explore and subvert the mysterious...

Une Maitresse Femme, a New York-based photographer known for her provocative and boundary-pushing work, has captivated the underground art scene with her unique perspective. After a hiatus, she returns to photography, offering a rare glimpse into her evolving artistic vision through an exclusive look at her latest work. In this interview, Tall Milk, a 6'3" giantess and multimedia artist, steps into the role of muse and collaborator as the two explore themes of mystery and artistic evolution in their creative exchange.

PETIT MORT (Tall Milk)

I’m one of those New Yorkers who’s always late to the underground scene—finding out about parties, dungeons, and artist salons long after they’ve shuttered. I meet artists with eye bags and heavy pasts, always lamenting how New York has changed, how the best days are behind us. Just the other night, a regular trick of mine, in a thick Queens drawl, declared, "New York is dead," and swore he’s high-tailing it to Florida as soon as he can.

For me, the ‘good old days’ feel like a fleeting myth—something to enviously consume in stories from cab drivers, dusty Strand books, and scratchy DVDs. But then I spend time with Une Maitresse Femme [UMF], who’s lived through some of New York’s most pivotal creative moments and is still producing electrifying work, and it feels like a slice of that fabled city is still alive.

UMF used to photograph me and others before COVID, but when the world shut down, her camera landed back on the shelf. Recently, we reconnected in my tiny, prop-filled apartment, and the energy between us reminded me of everything she brings to her art—how she has a way of conjuring the past, breathing life into its forgotten grit and glamour, and making it feel urgent and alive once again.

With all that in mind, where did your creative journey begin? What led you to photography, and how did you first start exploring such provocative themes and personas?

UNE MAITRESSE FEMME

As long as I can remember, I’ve always had a camera in my hand. I’ve been photographing since I was a child, so much so that my father wanted to build me a darkroom when I was nine. My next big supporter was my college photography professor whose mantra was simple: “Go shoot.” One of the main things that caught his eye was my subject matter—portraits of dominatrices in their dungeons, strippers high on heroin, women masturbating in bathtubs, goth kids hanging out in the dark corners of clubs at 3 AM, and, last but not least, punk rock.

I’ve always been a black sheep, so I’m naturally drawn to the outcasts of society. Anything outside the norm was and still is within my comfort zone. So exploring provocative themes has always come naturally to me.

Tall Milk: Holy hell, I do love that image of a woman masturbating in the bathtub! It reminds me of the part of our Bimbo shoot when I teetered into the bathroom on my stripper heels carrying my heaving crossdresser tits on my chest. I tried to make sitting on the toilet look chic by unraveling some toilet paper and throwing it across myself as a sash. I’m glad that one didn’t make the cut.