Artist Biography
Lieko Shiga (b. 1980, Okazaki, Japan, based in Miyagi, Japan) uses photography to explore the self, emotional states, human connection and the relationship between society and nature amid the complexities of modern life. Employing techniques such as dramatic lighting and coloured filters, her images evoke the space between dream and reality, raising fundamental questions about the conditions of existence.
After studying in London, Shiga relocated to coastal Kitakama where she became the town photographer. Her interest in documenting the local community, folk traditions and everyday activities was shaped by her desire to represent events and people in what she terms “an eternal present”— a suspended moment in space and time which photography afforded. Following the major tsunami that devastated Kitakama in 2011, Shiga published her seminal Rasen Kaigan (2013) series. This collection of photographs depicted the town and its people before and after the catastrophe, shedding light on local life and a spirit of resilience, connectedness and restoration in the face of natural catastrophe.
Shiga obtained her BFA in New Media from Chelsea College of Arts, London in 2004. Her work is held in major collections including the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagoya; Getty Museum, Los Angeles; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Tokyo Photographic Art Museum; and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa.
Notable exhibitions include Waiting for the Wind (2024), Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo; A Personal View of Japanese Contemporary Art (2024), Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo; I have not loved (enough or worked) (2022), Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; JAPAN. BODY_PERFORM_LIVE (2022), Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan; SHÉHÉRAZADE AT NIGHT (2022), Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Off the Wall (2021), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; BLUE (2021), 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa; Human Spring (2019), Tokyo Photographic Art Museum; Building Romance (2018), Toyota Municipal Museum of Art; Japanorama, (2017), Centre Pompidou-Metz; The Cosmos of the Takahashi Collection (2017), Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto; 2 or 3 Tigers (2017), Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; and Blind Date (2017), Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art. The artist has also participated in major international festivals including Wild Grass (2024), 8th Yokohama Triennale; 17th Istanbul Biennial (2022); Unfamiliar Asia (2015), 2nd Beijing Photo Biennial; APT8 (2015), 8th Asia Pacific Triennial, Brisbane; and Awakening (2013), 2nd Aichi Triennale, Nagoya.
Shiga had her residency at the STPI Workshop in 2006, resulting in the group exhibition BMW YAAS: Eric Chan, Heman Chong, Lieko Shiga, Natee Utarit and Yim Ja-Hyuk (2007).