Guest Star Friday #142... Louise Bourgeois

Untitled, sewn work

I only started studying Louise Bourgeois about 9 months ago. I probably saw Maman before, but honestly, I knew nothing about Louise until my French friends at SÍM mentioned her last year. They said my work reminded them of her. Then I was gifted The Secret of the Cells for my 40th birthday and I began paying very close attention. (Thank you, Elsa!) 

Right now what I am most interested in are her sewn works because I'm working on my own sewn work at the residency. When I made "Island of 14,264 Days" in Iceland in the spring of 2013, I knew I was doing emotional repair. I was very aware that with every knot I stitched I was trying to make sense of life and trying to sew together all sorts of different experiences. When I began my new work here at Texílsetur, I stumbled upon a Louise quote that hit me hard,

“The act of sewing is a process of emotional repair.” 

I was just floored. She put into words some thoughts I had floating around in my head that I had not yet articulated outwardly. In another article I read,

"The sewing is my attempt to keep things together and make things whole."

I find these ideas very inspiring, and also very comforting. Louise used memory and emotion in her work, too, as well as other themes that she could illustrate very specifically because they are part of her personal history. Now, I don't love everything she created. I find some of her pieces difficult to look at both visually and conceptually, but even that is interesting to me, and I certainly don't avoid trying to learn from them. I like studying all the different aspects of her work because it's really helping me sort through some of my own thoughts. 

He Disappeared into Complete Silence

Blind Leading the Blind

The Couple

 loose sheet

Untitled

See more of my favorite Louise works on Pinterest.

Thanks for reading.