Cells, Materials, and Enclosure

The Cells combine doors, cages, furniture, clothing, sculpture, and found objects into spaces that can resemble rooms, memories, prisons, or stages. Viewers look into intimate environments while remaining physically separated from them.

Across marble, latex, bronze, wood, wax, and fabric, Bourgeois chose materials for emotional and bodily associations. Making became a repeated attempt to give form to anxiety and regain psychic balance.