My Cell is an installation in progress to which the Bourgeois has been continually adding since 1989. It is in her private collection and she considers it unfinished. The installation consists of personal items of significance to the artist, some of which are listed here:
The amniotic sac and umbilical cord of Bourgeois’ first-born son (Jean-Louis, 1940) preserved in formalin.
A dictionary that belonged to her father (Louis), open to page 698, at the definition of the parent-child relationship.
Bourgeois’ husband’s slippers (silicone cast made after his death). Robert Goldwater died in 1973.
Titanium casts of the soles of her sons’ shoes at different stages of their development.
A ball, painted red, belonging to her second son Alain Matthew Clement.
A portion of the fence from the artist’s first home in New York, where she settled in 1938 upon arriving from France.
The lighting system that illuminated Bourgeois’ first Spider sculpture in 1988.
Machinery from a New York leather-tanning factory that closed down in 1940. It was from this factory that the artist borrowed the large machine for her landmark Cell (arch of Hysteria) of 1992 – 93.
A reproduction of the artist’s phrase, “What is the shape of this problem?” which served as the basis for nine diptych lithographs in 1999. The phrase comes from a discussion she had with her father in 1948, on the correlation between mathematics and art (Bourgeois had her first exhibition in 1949).
The installation has been documented by the artist in a series of four photographs. ‘he unique printing of the series has been acquired by DESTE Foundation.