Pregnant Woman in Maitland: Notes on Life, Loss, Longing and Love
Standing her ground for over eighteen months, a hypernatural figure commanded a quiet room at Maitland Regional Art Gallery (MRAG). Arms folded overhead, limbs and belly heavy: Ron Mueck’s Pregnant Woman (2002) is a silicon illusion of a phantom soon-to be mother. Her monumental presence is both vulnerable and powerful, but beyond the spectacle and marvel of the hyperreal sculpture, a series of public programs breathed life into the space. Mueck’s work was on loan from the National Gallery of Australia as part of the sharing the national collection initiative, and it provided much more than increased foot traffic: it stimulated new works that sat alongside—or in tension with—Pregnant woman.
