100 magic dolls

Bien Contemporary, Copenhagen, 2023
Congratulations on your pregnancy, it says in a letter from the fertility clinic.
It’s a good thing I’m not one of those hysterical women, I thought. I am just about to
start fertility treatment. This must be a slip-up.

After four years, I am one of them. We sit together in the waiting room at the clinic, without peering at one another. Because none of us want to be here.
None of us know who will end up with the baby.
As though there was a certain number we were competing about.
And what does it all come down to?
About eating the right things. Taking it really easy. Just thinking of something else.
As we adjust our entire lives to our ovulation and clinic visits.
As we drink white wine in the interim. To dampen the sorrow.
We have that, at least.
Until next time. And don’t lift too much weight. Just the right volume.
And don’t think about it.
But remember your hormone shots.

Three free treatments, in expert hands.
How lucky we are, I think.
As though having children is a human right.
And what if it doesn’t work out? What does that make you?

Okay, then, let’s try for a baby.
And now I want nothing else.

Spilling salt on the table and tossing a pinch over both shoulders.
What’s happening to me?
All the tears are just lying there now.

100 magic dolls is a collection of dolls which I created during an extended phase of fertility treatments. As a ritual, she created a doll every time the risk of miscarriage filled her with anxiety. The dolls are made from the artist’s belongings, such as clothes, shoes, and bags. Serving as a lucky charm, each of the artist’s dolls has a red or pink object found in the street attached to it.

The inspiration for making dolls to promote fertility, and the inclusion of personal items in these creations, derives from African Zulu culture, which I was familiar with from an early age, due to my mother’s Southern African background. In my childhood I was surrounded by a number of Zulu artifacts, which I absorbed as part of her family history. As an adult, Nina traveled to South Africa to broaden her understanding of this ancient culture by studying the color and pattern codes of Zulu beadwork.

The catalog presents 100 magic dolls which I created sitting in my corner sofa at home in Svendborg.