Chaos as a constant becomes weary and grounding is sought. The body is strong, the brain an endless loop of reminders and patterns, the heart contemplates life with no distractions. There are memories here in the movement of these curtain barriers, the way they fill the room with seemingly little substance. A skin, a veneer. A journey is in progress, a settling of sorts, by way of the long road. And there is reverence here too, in the seduction and the illumination. Desire, expectation. A dream, a breeze, the warmth of a padded room leads back to the beginning vulnerability, openness, and muffled laughter.

Jenkins and Mattress Factory volunteers tufted the interiors of the apse walls with 24,000 feet of thick cotton cord. After installing a hardware cloth grid in the apses, six volunteers worked in pairs-one inside and one outside the apse-to insert the cotton like a giant hook rug. When contractors originally built the three rooms, Jenkins discovered that the apses, which she intended to be cozy and comforting, were much too large. The walls had to be torn down and rebuilt into a more compact form. At one point, the apse walls were to be lined with spaghetti-like rubber tubing. The curtain and navel rooms retain their original design. The curtains and button holes were constructed by a neighborhood seamstress. The cast of the navel was made with a dental mold. Root Bound is mainly an architectural piece. The connection to her previous working method, which featured repetitive activity, is seen only in the apse areas.

Delanie Jenkins received her B.A. from the University of Texas at Dallas and a M.F.A. from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her mixed-media installations address language and power, memory and desire, contemplation and obsession, and familial history and self-construction, often focusing on women's experiences. She was visiting Professor of Sculpture at the University of Iowa and is currently Associate Professor of Studio Art at the University of Pittsburgh.