My Sister Is Pregnant

With the solo exhi­bi­ti­on ​‘My Sis­ter is Preg­nant’, artist Cla­ra Spil­liaert focu­ses on the simul­ta­neous preg­nan­cy of her sis­ter and that of a duck. She thus del­ves dee­per into our dea­lings with fer­ti­li­ty and reproduction. In Ghent’s Cita­del Park, Spil­liaert noti­ced a duck that laid nine eggs. At the moment, her sis­ter had just star­ted a nine-month incu­ba­ti­on peri­od, a peri­od accom­pa­nied by men­tal and phy­si­cal chan­ges. The artist began to obser­ve both of them intent­ly. She went to the park eve­ry day, until one day she saw the duck eating her own egg to gain strength. To Spil­liaert, this see­med like the ulti­ma­te act of self-care and autonomy. As with the ducks, Cla­ra’s sis­ter will rai­se her child wit­hout a father. Whi­le sha­ping and pain­ting in clay, Spil­liaert brid­ges the spe­cies and con­nects the­se two figu­res. Mean­w­hi­le, the artist herself lays a month­ly egg that dis­sol­ves in a sea of blood. The park duck is cur­rent­ly rai­sing her only sur­vi­ving chick. By the end of the exhi­bi­ti­on, her sis­ter’s child is expec­ted and the milk will start flowing.