The very first time that I saw Louise Bourgeois’ work was at an exhibition at The Irish Museum of Modern Art when I was a teenager.
I was blown away. I remember the show had lots of her suspended tapestry pieces and I was really enamoured by the way she had combined textiles with sculpture. Then, once I discovered more about her life, I became completely infatuated. I loved the fact that the subject matter was so personal and how she reflected her life in her art in such a transparent way. Bourgeois’ parents ran a tapestry restoration workshop. Her job there was to embroider over all the nudity depicted in the tapestries, whereas her own work is incredibly phallic — so making art was like a form of therapy for her. I was also really attracted to her use of the spider motif and how it represents textile weaving and her mother. I thought it was so brave because it was incredibly exposing.
