Eric Roden, Matt Ginder-Vogel, and their research partners study how the river water’s infiltration of the creekbed changes the chemistry of the river and creates pockets for microorganisms to thrive. This interaction between the river and the creekbed made Heinen think of pregnancy because it illustrates the process of two beings coming together to create something new and then, with birth, letting it go separate from oneself. The River’s Lover is a wearable ceramic womb meant to be experienced while submerged in moving water, where the womb and stones inside will fill with water and become heavy with its weight. When the wearer emerges from the water, it will drain out and become light again, leaving the water changed by the interaction it just had with the ceramic womb. The River’s Lover allows the person wearing the womb to take on the role of the Creekbed and experience the sensations the River and the Creekbed may feel as they interact. By using human pregnancy to represent these ecological processes Heinen invites audiences to engage with complex research through a poetic story about birth.