Louise Bourgeois was an obsessive list-maker, writing things down in diaries, on the backs of drawings, and on countless sheets of paper. Serving the same function as making sculpture, the act of writing harnessed her unpredictable emotions and thoughts, giving them concrete form outside of her body and mind. Bourgeois’ fascination with dictionaries and encyclopaedia’s enhanced her keen sensitivity to language, enabling her use of words with precise meaning and nuance. The artist kept three types of diaries, ‘the written, the spoken (into a tape recorder), and my drawing diary, which is the most important’. In I Said Yes With My Eyes Bourgeois repeats the word ‘Yes’, encircling her deep inner thought in the centre of the image, and reinforcing her message without saying it aloud.
"I love language...you can stand anything if you write it down. Words put in connection can open up new relations...a new view of things." —Louise Bourgeois