Nina Ross's ‘Untitled #1, Pregnancy’
Art, Laneways
Blogged by: Melbourne Central 16 Mar 2016
Nina Ross
 
Nina Ross is a Melbourne-based artist who works predominantly with video, performance and photography. With a strong research-led practice, Nina’s current work explores the language acquisition process and its repercussions on a sense of self, drawing on her experiences of living in Norway and learning Norwegian. The videos speak to a wide audience, relevant to current global issues, while giving a voice to the personal in this broader experience.
 
Nina Ross
‘Untitled #1, Pregnancy’
2014. HD video, looped, sound, 2:30 minutes.

 
Untitled #1, Pregnancy records what appears to be an empirical experiment as Nina Ross applies to herself a folkloric technique she discovered in online baby forums. The technique involves holding a ring above the pregnant belly and asking a series of questions, which are ‘answered’ by the position of the rotating ring. Viewers are left uncertain as to the results, replicating the mother’s uncertainty during her pregnancy. Instead we ponder our desire for certainty, and the comparison between empirical and intuitive reasoning.
 
At the time Ross made Untitled #1, Pregnancy, ultrasound had shown her that her unborn child would be a girl. However, hours before the birth, she was informed that she was having a boy. Even a medical image is not scientific because it is subject to interpretation.

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