Permanent Collection
SHIOTA Chiharu
An old wooden boat found on the shore of Lake Towada is strung about with thousands of red threads, as if to tether it. Shiota says that as well as guiding us to unknown places, in their function of crossing water, boats sit alongside death. The boat, and the threads woven in so many layers that it is impossible to grasp any single strand, evoke the invisible, elusive things associated with our lives, such as the memories harbored by places and objects, and the connections and deaths of people.
Photo: Oyamada Kuniya
SHIOTA Chiharu
Born in Osaka in 1972, Shiota Chiharu lives and works in Berlin. Confronting fundamental human concerns such as life, death and relationships, Shiota explores human existence throughout various dimensions by creating an existence in the absence either in her large-scale thread installations that include a variety of common objects and external memorabilia or through her drawings, sculptures, photography and videos. In 2008, she received the Art Encouragement Prize from the Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. In 2015, Shiota was selected to represent Japan at the 56th Venice Biennale. In 2019, her most comprehensive solo exhibition “The Soul Trembles” was shown at the Mori Art Museum. Other solo exhibitions have been featured across the world including Art Gallery of South Australia (2018); Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK (2018); the Museum of Art, Kochi (2013); the National Museum of Art, Osaka (2008) among others. Her work has also been included in numerous international group exhibitions.
2021
Wooden boar, red wool
544.8×852.7×465 cm
