INTERVIEW
Connecting feelings with no words: Chiharu Shiota interviewed by Gil Dekel
10 December 2024 – Vol 2, Issue 4.
Gil Dekel: You wrap wool threads around metal frames and objects (chairs, desks). How do you decide how much wool, and how much objects, go into the installation?
Chiharu: It often depends on the space itself. I want to create a three-dimensional drawing. The material is like an extension of the pencil’s line, extending into the room. It is like drawing in the air. As soon as I cannot follow the thread with my eyes, I know that the work is complete.
‘Counting Memories’ by Chiharu Shiota. Installation: wooden desk, chair, paper, black wool. Muzeum Śląskie w Katowicach, Katowice, Poland. 2019. Photo by Sonia Szeląg. © DACS, London, and the artist, 2024. Permission to use photo granted from DACS, London.
Gil: Wool is an ‘in-between’ material. It comes from sheep, from nature, and it is going to become a product (knitted fabric; clothing). The wool stage is an ‘in-between’ stage. You transform it into physical objects in your large installations.
Chiharu: For me, it is not about the material itself but the emotion that the thread can convey. I always wanted to be a painter but during my studies, I realised I could not paint anymore, because everything I created felt like it was already done before. It was just colour on a canvas; there was no emotion. When I began working with thread, I knew I had found my material. The thread itself is a mirror of my feelings – the more distressed, the more the thread is tangled. The thread represents human relationships as it can be tense, loose, tangled, knotted and cut.
Gil: Wool is knitted to form fabric and clothing. The process is of connecting and joining parts seamlessly. You are using wool almost in ‘separation’, so to speak. The threads are spaced apart. There are massive ‘gaps’ between the wool threads in your installations.
Chiharu: The essence of my work lies in connections. I think you cannot live in this society without connections. It is impossible, yet many connections are invisible to the naked eye. And I want to make them visible. There is a Japanese legend saying that when a child is born, a red thread is tied around the little finger of the baby. This is supposed to be an extension of the blood vessel from the heart to the finger. This thread is then connected to another person. They are destined to meet and be in each other’s lives.
‘Everyone, a Universe’ by Chiharu Shiota. Installation: chair, wool. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, Spain. 2024. Photo by Pep Herrero. © DACS, London, and the artist, 2024. Permission to use photo granted from DACS, London.
Gil: There is a strong presence in your work. A sense that someone is there, in the works, but we cannot see them – invisible participants, maybe?
Chiharu: The main theme of my artwork is presence in the absence. I collect old ordinary objects that have been used for many years. I feel that objects that surround us accumulate our memories and therefore our existence. I have never met the person sitting on the chairs I use in my works, but you can feel their presence. This existence is even stronger when the person has passed away.
Gil: …and this is why you convey presence via absence?
Chiharu: Yes. It is a feeling. When I see an empty chair, I see a person sitting but no one is there. The presence of the person is there but it is absent. I find this interesting. What do existence and identity then mean? And where do we go when our body is gone? My art asks questions about life, death, and consciousness.
‘Human Rhizome’ by Chiharu Shiota. Installation: book, wool. Galerie Templon, New York, USA. 2023. Photo by Charles Roussel. © DACS, London, and the artist, 2024. Permission to use photo granted from DACS, London.
Gil: Is there a ‘direction’ in your work? I believe that the wool threads usually go from above down?
Chiharu: There is no intended direction, only connections. But I think that especially the accumulation of black thread creates a night sky expanding into the universe, so for me, it is reaching up and all around.
I have the feeling that everyone has a universe inside, and I want to connect it with the outside.
‘Tracing Boundaries’ by Chiharu Shiota. Installation: wool, metal frame, door. EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo, Finland. Courtesy of Saastamoinen Foundation / EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art. 2021. Photo: Paula Virta / EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art. © DACS, London, and the artist, 2024. Permission to use photo granted from DACS, London.
Gil: How do you transform abstract ideas into physical (installations)?
Chiharu: It is often based on personal experiences or emotions. I connect to the objects, and by bringing them together with ample threads, it creates a universal feeling. For the installation ‘The Key in the Hand’ I wanted to collect something that was important; to hold something in my hand after my miscarriage and the death of my father. If I had only used 10 keys then it would only be my personal story, but as I used 150,000 keys it became something universal.
‘Uncertain Journey’ by Chiharu Shiota. Installation: metal frame, red wool. Busan Museum of Art, Busan, South Korea. 2019. Photo by Sunhi Mang. © DACS, London, and the artist, 2024. Permission to use photo granted from DACS, London.
Gil: So, you are incorporating items – keys, shoes and windows – into your art, transforming these personal memories into a collective narrative (art installations). What does this ‘new’ narrative do to the individual memory?
Chiharu: It forges connections, and cultivates bonds.
Even though our society has developed so fast, we are still not able to truly know what the other is thinking or feeling. The strength of the connection does not matter; if it is your parents, your children, neighbours, teachers, friends or partner. We cannot feel what the other person is feeling. We can only assume. But creating my artwork allows people to connect to the same or similar feelings, with no words.
At a Glance:
Art = Threads (Emotion + Connection) + Materials (Universality).
Artistic installations embody threads that symbolise emotions and connections, as well as materials that transform personal memories into a visible universal narrative.
© Journal of Creativity and Inspiration.
Images/art © Chiharu Shiota.
Photos © DACS, London, and Chiharu Shiota. Permission to use photos granted from DACS, London.
Chiharu Shiota is a visual artist from Osaka, Japan, living and working in Berlin. She uses thread and everyday objects to create large-scale installations. She studied at Seika University, Kyoto (1992-1996), the University of the Fine Arts, Hamburg (1996-1997), the University of Art, Brunswick (1997-1999) and subsequently at the University of Arts in Berlin until 2003. Her work has been presented in numerous solo and group exhibitions worldwide.
Gil Dekel is a doctor in Art, Design and Media, specialising in processes of creativity and inspiration. He is a scholar, designer, visionary artist, Reiki Master/Teacher, and co-author of the ‘Energy Book’. Dr. Dekel is an Associate Lecturer at the Open University. In 2022 he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Coin, in recognition of his dedication and commitment to pastoral work in the UK.
