Mama by Louise

Maman is a monumental steel spider, so large that it can only be installed out of doors. Supported on eight slender, knobby legs, its body is suspended high above the ground, allowing the viewer to walk around and underneath it. Each ribbed leg ending in a sharp-tipped point, and attached to a collar above which an irregularly ribbed spiraling body rises, balanced by a similar sized egg sac below. The meshed sac contains several white and grey marble eggs that hang above the viewer’s head. Generally speaking spiders are strongly alarming with their effect on people. They can awken differing emotions, from past curiosity and playfulness, to terror and fear.By looking at the image of the sculpture, at first I had a feeling of slight anxiety, as a child would, if they could not see their mother. Then when I saw her eggs I felt a strong, safe, maternal presence, a positive energy directed on me. Also when i look at the sulpture many questions come to mind fro instance did she first sketch it and if so where did she sketch it , did she personaly build it etc...
When looking at this picture I see a monster, a large creature out for blood, but as I closely examine the sculpture I see true meaning. Maman by Louise bourgeois shows the strength of a mother, with metaphors of spinning, weaving, nurturing and protecting.Spiders may have held a special meaning for Bourgeois, giving protection, and foresight. As a child bourgeois may have had a pet spider and may have not had her mother around as much she would have liked which resulted in her saw seeing her spider as a mother figure. This sculpture is shows how protective a mother can be, no matter the species. When I look at this sculpture, the book Charlets web comes to mind because Charlet the spider treated Willbur the pig as if he were her own. It didn’t matter that they physically different, they still protected each other as if they were the same.
My original opinion of Maman has changed dramatically because at first