My most recent museum visit was to see “Two Home Countries” from Japanese/German artist Chiharu Shiota at the Asian Art Museum. This large scale multimedia installation takes up the back half of the museum’s lower floor.
The first piece in her exhibit, Diary, is a passageway through a hall of an intricate mesh of red threads. Pages torn out of a handwritten diary (or so I assume, not being able to read Japanese) are woven into the web.
At the other end of the passage is a room filled with sculptures, both large and small, which are clearly related to Diary; most notably the spider-like outline of a red dress named Two Home Countries that seems to be connecting the installation together in both a physical and metaphorical sense.
If you skipped the exhibit’s intro the relationship to the other sculptures may seem hard to pinpoint — no matter, though. In a small inward facing gallery in the corner the answer can be found, at least for those willing to walk past a sign warning of graphic images. Here the imagery alludes to the artist’s experiences of undergoing cancer treatment.
This personal journey connects the different pieces of the exhibit together — the organic forms, the ruminations on identity, loneliness, and memory — these are the thoughts of someone undergoing intense medical treatment, brought to a larger-than-life scale by an immensely talented artist.
My recommendation: While this exhibit is worth checking out if you’re in the area, it’s a little hard to square with the ever-inflating ticket prices of the Asian Art Museum. Here’s a hot tip: the exhibit has a reduced price on the museum’s free days. Two Home Countries runs through July 20th, but if you get there before June you will also have the chance to view a small exhibit called New Japanese Clay.
