The New Life (work in progress)


Today, treatments for infertility may involve hormone therapy, surgery, implants, injections, or all the above, but in the past women left penis-shaped offerings outside caves or let young man throw buckets of water over them during Easter to get pregnant.

Even now all forces are called upon when it comes to the wish to conceive. Nicole Kidman put a whole new pilgrimage on the map by crediting an Australian waterfall for her miraculous pregnancy at age 41.

When on a vacation in England Eva van Ooijen accidentally stumbled upon the Cerne Abbas Giant.  A chalk figure carved into the hillside near a village in Dorset.  Legend has it that women who want to get pregnant will find their wishes fulfilled after spending the night sleeping atop the enormous naked figure.

Being there while longing for a second child got her fascinated by all the pilgrimages and superstitions surrounding fertility. They inspirer her to create her own personal and modern fertility shrines.

Exhibition views