About memories and pain ---- Chiharu Shiota

I am very fond of art that's exclusively personal and usually filled with memories and emotions. Somehow only this kind of art can truly touch my heart and therefore I consider only this kind of art soulful.

This is what I found: 'in memory' by Chiharu Shiota. I kind of don't want to admit that I am always attracted to a kind of 'silent darkness'. And this slight addiction is the reason why I like Chiharu's interlacing web series. I especially like this one because of the simplicity of the black and white; another important reason is that the scene of a grand piano and audience chairs reminds me of the strong heaviness of live classical music, which added a lot of the weight to the darkness in this piece.

Comparing with this one, you will understand what I'm talking about. A lot of her works have this particular kind of beds in them. They seem like hospital beds for patients, this makes me feel that her past pain must be strongly connected to illness or disease.

Sometimes a white wedding dress will show with the same theme. I'm not too comfortable with the scene because an old long gown hanging there gives me such a cold and strong ghostly death feeling, which I am very frightened of. But I do think the artist is very talented and gifted in showing and expressing her inner emotions and feelings.

This one is called 'matsukaze', an opera show she did in Europe. It is very interesting that I don't see many Asian traits in her art, they are very western to me.

She also has other works with slightly different themes. If you want to feel her loneliness, here is her website http://www.chiharu-shiota.com/