Louise Bourgeoise: Self-Expression Is Sacred and Fatal/Statements

Many know Louise Bourgeois as an acclaimed sculptor but only few are aware of her poetic statements. Accompanying the exhibition “Louise Bourgeois: The Woven Child” at the Gropius Bau, newly commissioned recordings of a selection of Bourgeois’ “statements” focus on precisely this lesser-known area of her artistic practice. Read by Eva Maria Jost (German) and Ruth Rosenfeld (English), the artist’s carefully composed words come together not unlike her sculptures as entangled compositions woven between her biography and her work.

All statements are by Louise Bourgeois, and can be found in: Louise Bourgeois, “Self-Expression Is Sacred and Fatal: Statements”, in Christiane Meyer-Thoss, “Louise Bourgeois: Designing for Free Fall” (Zurich: Ammann Verlag, 1992), 177–199. Courtesy: the Louise Bourgeois Archive, © The Easton Foundation, New York.