When my cunt stopped living 2010

Curator: Louise Bourgeois' watercolor, "When my cunt stopped living," created in 2010, presents an immediately striking visual and textual experience. Editor: The work evokes a sense of profound sorrow. The blurred form, rendered in muted, almost bruised tones, alongside the fragmented, painful text gives a feeling of vulnerability and loss. Curator: Absolutely. The textual element, its handwritten nature almost scrawled across the surface, reinforces the intensity. Considering the context of Bourgeois's larger body of work—her focus on domesticity, the body, and traumatic memory—we might interpret this piece through a feminist lens. What does it mean for a woman to explicitly engage with such visceral language and imagery? Editor: From a formal perspective, the tension created between the abstract shape, evocative of a body, and the explicit text is key. The dripping watercolor intensifies the mood. The color saturation directs our reading of the form – it takes on an almost internal presence, something throbbing and suffering. Curator: Let's also consider the material properties here. Watercolor allows for translucence and layering, contributing to that sense of interiority and exposing processes of grief. The paper is equally crucial. Bourgeois’ choice creates immediacy. It is more like a notebook or sketch, an unfiltered expression. Editor: Agreed. The lack of refinement elevates the rawness. The deliberate asymmetry of the form creates a powerful disquiet; an unbalance. Its refusal to be easily categorized encourages deeper contemplation. The scale encourages us into its embrace and suffering. Curator: This speaks volumes about Bourgeois' understanding of the relationship between art and catharsis, art and activism. In dismantling patriarchal notions, it serves to reconstruct ideas about female sexuality and identity. This challenges conventional assumptions concerning the relationship of art with issues such as identity and marginalization. Editor: Ultimately, I find myself drawn to its compellingly mournful state. There's a brutal, yet beautiful vulnerability on display. Curator: It is interesting to me that Bourgeois utilized those qualities as she moved into later life; turning experiences of suffering into sources of liberation.