A ‘Soul-trembling’ Universe Woven by Shiota Chiharu
“I want to understand my soul and where it belongs,” Shiota Chiharu said.
Among the many practitioners in the bourgeoning contemporary art scene is Shiota Chiharu, a Berlin-based Japanese artist who is known for turning the often-elusive memory into immersive, tangible experience. At the root of the artist’s creation lies her constant quest for the intangible but undeniable presence: the soul.
The artist’s largest-ever solo exhibition Shiota Chiharu: The Soul Trembles first opened at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo in 2019, and made a breaking record of attracting more than 660,000 visitors. Its subtitle “The Soul Trembles” makes reference to the Shiota’s earnest desire to bring to others the emotional-stirring experiences through her artistic expression. Some hundreds of work from this exhibition, ranging from large-scale installations and sculptures to drawings, performance videos and stage designs, travelled to the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) in Taiwan this summer, deeply affecting the souls of many visitors.
Where Are We Going (2017/2021), Shiota Chiharu, Taipei Fine Arts Museum
Even on a weekday morning, there’s a long queue of visitors waiting to step into this blockbuster exhibition. Outside its entrance, visitors are first welcomed by a poetic installation titled Where Are We Going — a prelude that foreshadows the philosophical aspect of life embedded in the works that await us. Boat-like ‘apparitions’ composed out of black wireframe and white wools are suspended by black strings hanging down from the ceiling. Evoking an ethereal and almost dream-like quality, these boats all seem to head towards one direction but the question is, where?
When looked carefully, among this sea of boats is one with its fine contour in red. As a viewer, I couldn’t help but to project myself to that special boat, imagining as if I were struggling to swim upstream against the current while not knowing where I was heading to. The moment one set eyes upon this sentimental installation, he or she is encouraged to reflect and contemplate on the big question that has been asked by sages and laymen alike across the millennia, who are we? Where are we going?
Becoming Painting (1994), Shiota Chiharu, Taipei Fine Arts Museum
Despite having studied oil painting at the Kyoto Seika University, Shiota soon realised that there was so much more outside the world of oils and paints. Becoming Painting was one of such initiatives that she undertook, turning herself into a painting. By covering herself in red oil paints, Shiota — the artist — formed an integral part of the pictorial surface and became part of her very own artwork.
The artist eventually found the use of threads to be her main vehicle of creative expression. In Shiota’s own words, threads allows her to explore space and depth, giving her the possibility to create a surface that “gradually expands into the universe”. It is probably this grand vision that such an immersive yet boundless quality is engrained in her work.
Uncertain Journey (2016/2021), Shiota Chiharu, Taipei Fine Arts Museum
Uncertain Journey, with its wire-constructed boats being laid out across the exhibition floor, is one of Shiota’s best known installations. Poised in silence, each individual boat is connected by layers and layers of interwoven threads in crimson red whose presence can be both provoking and somewhat suffocating.
This visual orchestra consists of the threads’ different states — entangled, intertwined, broken off, unravelled — that allude to the complexities of human relationships. This brings to mind the “Six degrees of separation” theory, stating that everyone on this planet is connected through a chain of six or fewer friends or acquaintances. In the same vein, a single thread not only connects two points but, at the same time, can be caught up with other threads to form a three-dimension web. The intricacy of these threads, similar to the fragility of most relationships, face the risk of breakage at any given time.
In Silence (2002/2021), Shiota Chiharu, Taipei Fine Arts Museum
Memory, fleeting and difficult to grasp, is a powerful aspect of Shiota’s work. Good memories make us feel nostalgic, whereas unpleasant or traumatic memories turn us into prisoners. “There are things that sink into the recesses of my mind, and others that fail to take either a physical or verbal form, no matter how hard you try”, Shiota once said. A thought-provoking installation titled In Silence demonstrates the artist’s attempt to turn a fragment of her memory into tangible form.
A burnt piano, placed in the centre of the room, and a couple of chairs have been engulfed by a ferocious black monster, evoking a memory that’s unbearable to recall or difficult to be put into words. In Silence draws its inspiration from Shiota’s childhood memory of a disastrous fire that took place in her neighbour’s house. Waves of destruction, darkness, fear and anxiety swept all over this writer as I tiptoed through this black hole of ‘memory-turned existence’.
Out of My Body (2019/2021), Shiota Chiharu, Taipei Fine Arts Museum
At the root of Shiota’s work is an never-ending exploration that revolves around life and death, a theme that is particularly evident in Out of My Body. In this achingly sentimental installation, saggy sheets of leather gave in to gravity, bearing close resemblance to the flayed skin held by St.Bartholomew in Michelangelo’s The Last Judgement in Sistine Chapel.
Poised beneath these cut leather sheets are fragments of the artist’s body parts cast in bronze. Detached, fragmented, and broken, it’s as if Shiota is reclaiming parts of herself that were once lost, making an effort to reconnect her detached mind and body. But while our body will eventually decay, it is believed that our consciousness — or that intangible yet ever-present existence that came to be known as our ‘soul’ — will remain.
Polo in Italo Calvino’s The Invisible Cities once said that “Memory’s images, once they are fixed in words, are erased.” Similarly, Shiota’s very act of expressing her emotions and giving them a form could possibly destroy part of her soul. People often find themselves in a dilemma — for if they don’t find a way to treasure a memory or emotion in tangible form — be it images or words — chances are they would be forgotten and lost one day.
Accumulation — Searching for the Destination (2014/2021), Shiota Chiharu, Taipei Fine Arts Museum
Many of Shiota’s work prompts the viewers to make an enquiry into what we all, as human beings, pursue in life. Ever since her discovery of old newspapers in a suitcase found in Berlin, Shiota has been fascinated by the association that suitcase has with memories, migration or even the very journeys throughout people’s life. This inspired her to create Accumulation — Searching for the Destination where dozens and dozens of oscillating suitcases, orchestrated in such a way that evokes a school of fish swimming in the ocean, are hung from the ceiling with red strings. By using suitcases acquired from vintage market, Shiota believed that each of them carries an imprint of its owners.
Rather than seeing these suitcases as accumulation of memories and ownership, this writer tends to see them as allusions to hundreds of lost souls struggling to find their ways. I couldn’t help but contemplate on the following questions: Why do we want to leave the place where we were born? What are we searching for in life? What happens after we’ve reached our destinations?
At this moment in time when the global pandemic has yet to come to an end, many of us find ourselves confined to one place. While many of us are not able to travel physically, we can certainly explore inwards and travel to the deepest part of our soul. Perhaps, some of you may find Shiota’s red threads as a perfect guide that leads you to where your soul belongs.