Extreme Activities: Louise Bourgeois and the Winter Solstice with Emmalea Russo

Extreme Activities: Louise Bourgeois and the Winter Solstice

The artist Louise Bourgeois called psychoanalysis "a luxury", "a joke", and "a duty." In this workshop, we'll look at some fascinating passages from Louise Bourgeois's journal entries about her own psychoanalysis as well as her creative process, alongside her sculptures and drawings. We'll keep an eye on the approaching winter solstice (Bourgeois was born around this time of year): the shortest day and the longest night of the year, when we anticipate light's return. We'll think about the sign of Capricorn, light's extremes, the beginning of winter, and the extreme activity of creation. 

No prior knowledge required! 

We will meet online for 2 hours beginning at 10AM NYC (7AM Vancouver | 3PM London | 16:00 Stockholm | 17:00 Beirut) on Sunday, December 6th. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion

This event will be recorded and made available for all those who register.

THE POETRY OF PSYCHOANALYSIS: A SEASONAL SERIES with Emmalea Russo

On the eve of each season, the poet, novelist, and astrologer Emmalea Russo will present on a particular poet or artist who has dealt with psychoanalysis in their work in interesting and generative ways. There will be time for discussion and free association during class. Previous classes in the series focused on the life and work of poet H.D. and her Tribute to Freud for the spring equinox; poet Cynthia Cruz and her relation to psychoanalysis more broadly and repetition in particular for the summer solstice; and writer D.H. Lawrence and his Fantasia of the Unconscious for the autumn equinox. 

This series aims to connect poets and psychoanalysis in wild and unexpected ways while catapulting us into the next season. Freud wrote that the poets discovered the unconscious well before he did. So, what can poets teach us about the unconscious, psychoanalysis, and the seasons we move through?

Emmalea Russo is a writer, astrologer, and teacher. She is the author of two novels: Vivienne (2024) and The Moon Papers (2026). Her books of poetry are G (2018), Wave Archive (2019), Confetti (2022), and Magenta (2023). Recent poems and essays have appeared in Artforum, BOMB, Spike Art Magazine, The Brooklyn Rail, Compact, Granta, Gulf Coast, Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. She has been a writer in residence at Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in New York and 18th Street Arts Center in Los Angeles and a visiting critic at Parsons School of Design and The Art Institute of Cincinnati. She has taught courses on poetry, philosophy, and art at various institutions including Saint Peter's University, Northeastern University, The Melbourne School of Continental Philosophy, and GCAS. Her books have been reviewed in The Chicago Review, The Yale Review, Publishers Weekly, and elsewhere. She writes a popular substack newsletter on culture and the cosmos, Cosmic Edges, and teaches classes on literature, art, psychoanalysis, and the occult. She lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and at the Jersey shore.

This event series is hosted by Rendering Unconscious Center for Psychoanalysis 

Image: Louise Bourgeois, "Maman," Bronze, 1999.