The Abortionist’s Studio

In preparation for my article “L’intersémiotique ernalienne: Un dialogue au-delà de l’écriture,” I invited Romanian-American artist Blanche Şerban to paint The Abortionist’s Studio based on Annie Ernaux’s ekphrasis: “If I had to choose one painting to symbolize that episode in my life, it would be a small table with a formica top pushed up against a wall and an enamel basin with a probe glowing on the surface. Slightly to the right—a hairbrush. I don’t believe there is a single museum in the world whose collection feature a work called The Abortionist’s Studio” (Happening, trans. Tanya Leslie, Seven Stories Press, 2001).