Webs, worms and wonders

So, this sculpture was made by Louise Bourgeois. My ex-mentor Mandy mentioned it to me – coincidentally – as Bourgeois, it seems, said the idea was inspired by her relationship with her mother. Or at least, that’s how I remember it. I can’t recall particularly why she, Mandy, thought this would be relevant to me. It might have been that my octopus-tree paintings reminded her of spiders…

Anyway, I thought it was cool that I’d be coming out to Doha to see the spider in person. In arachnid. Whatever.

You can tell from the photo how huge it is. The elegant legs, the small body, and, hanging beneath, in a sort of net, the eggs. She is a spider mother. Is this an image of maternal care?

Yes... this is from a good webpage:

In Ode à Ma Mère, an illustrated book from 1995, Bourgeois wrote, “The friend (the spider — why the spider?) because my best friend was my mother and she was deliberate, clever, patient, soothing, reasonable, dainty, subtle, indispensable, neat and useful as a spider.”

As well as comparing spiders to her own mother, Louise Bourgeois’ spiders can be read as a universal symbol for all mothers, who like spiders, have to be quick-thinking and resourceful. Bourgeois has said, “The spider is a repairer. If you bash into the web of a spider, she doesn’t get mad. She weaves and repairs it.” We can see this strand of thought in Bourgeois’ largest spider sculpture, made in 1999, which she titled Maman. The sculpture towers thirty-foot high overhead, while carefully carrying a series of eggs which we look up at from below. Here the spider is a maternal figure of authority, yet she is also nurturing and protective.

In my house, there will be mother spiders. I leave the webs in the windows. Why not? They do me know harm. One rather large house spider ran across the kitchen one day before I left. Neither cat noticed; I did but let the spider find sanctuary under the counter.

Webs – I think of the days, a little mist and dew on the ground, and a whole meadow covered, COVERED, in webs! Every spider up all night, weaving and weaving, to create a sparkling wonderland.

Charles Darwin was interested in how a large number of small creatures, given a long enough time could change the world. Coral and worms, his favoured examples. Ah, yes, the worms. But the writer of this piece reminds us of the ecosystem engineering roles of plants and bacteria too. It’s worth a read.