“Home is where the heart is. When I see a house I can read its memory and there I find traces of human existence” — Chiharu Shiota
Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota’s intricate, immersive thread installations explore the connections between past and present, object and memory. Unfulfilled by her training as a painter, she began working with woven yarn after a strange dream during a year-long stay in Australia: ‘I was part of a three-dimensional painting and couldn’t breathe, because I was covered in paint. [...] After that I knew I had to create art using my body.’ [1] One restless day back in Germany she began spinning black wool around herself. It became a way to create spaces with different meanings: with black wool Shiota reconstructed the night sky or the cosmos, whilst red wool became a way of visualising human connections and relationships.
Explaining that “[human skin] is the first skin, the dress is the second skin, and the house is the third skin”, Shiota’s creations trigger deep memories of infancy, of lives previously lived and experiences carried by individuals throughout their lifetimes. [2] State of Being (Puppet House) has particular personal significance for Shiota, embodying fond memories of playing with dolls and puppets in her childhood home.