Chiharu Shiota
I chose to talk about Chiharu Shiota because her installations of entangled webs of yarn have caught my attention. Her works not only present her knowledge as an artist but also her attitudes towards death and life as a patient fighting cancer. She does that by using different colors of yarn. The black thread represents death, dreams, or the night sky. The third year after moving to Berlin, Chiharu was diagnosed with cancer and spent several months in a hospital bed. In 2002, she created During Sleep, 24 women including Chiharu were lying quietly in hospital beds, surrounded by black threads. They sleep like babies but experiencing a difficult situation/nightmare. The red thread symbolizes blood, the human body, and also alludes to the connection between people. In 2017, Chiharu received an invitation from Mori Art Museum to hold the largest exhibition in her career. But the day after she accepted the invitation, the doctor told her that her cancer had returned. Chiharu has to bear the pain of cancer, preparing her exhibition while receiving the treatment. Such experience was projected in her works again. That’s why we see, Flow of life. A body entangled by red yarn. I think she’s a very brave and amazing artist.