A STRANGE MOMENT

I was so sure that there was a chapter on Chiharu Shiota’s work. I had certainly seen her exhibition at the Bon Marché - but apparently hadn’t written anything. That happens. It was earlier in the year. Perhaps I had just dashed into buy something - and out again. When I saw she was being shown at the Gallery Daniel Templon, off I went. She is Japanese. The installation which takes up the whole gallery is called “Destination”.

 

“I wanted to create one oversized boat representing the topic I have touched on in my most recent works. Ships carry people and time. They feature a defined direction, with no other choice but to go forward. Though we know where we are heading, we can never stop. Life is a journey of uncertainty and wonder, and the boats symbolise the bearers of our dreams and hopes”

There is was, a huge 5-metre boat, the frame of its hull resembling a human skeleton floats in a sea of red yarn. Just look at those networks of connection. It’s a complex work and perhaps in Japanese terms there is more of a philosophic background than meets the eye. There are faces, clothes and many symbols











…she goes onto say
“Nowadays, we build and create on a massive scale, including things we don’t need, with no clear goal in sight, at a vertiginous speed…” I certainly agree with that











Born in Japan in 1972,  since 1997 Shiharu lives and  works in Berlin. 

Just some of her works … you like them, or you don’t, somehow they trouble me…I wonder what my Mother would have thought? She was colour blind and red for her was blue...!

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