Lieko Shiga (志賀理江子; born 1980) is a Japanese photographer. She is best known for her "Rasen Kaigan" (spiral coast) series.

Career

Shiga was born in

Okazaki, Aichi is a Cities of Japan, city located in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 386,999 in 164,087 households, and a population density of 999 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Geography Okazaki is in the ...

in 1980. After graduating from high school she enrolled in

Tokyo Polytechnic University is a private university in Honchō, Tokyo, Honchō, Nakano, Tokyo. Its nickname is ''Shadai'' (写大). It was formerly known as Tokyo College of Photography (, ''Tōkyō Shashin Daigaku''). The university was founded as Konishi Professional Sc ...

. She left school halfway through the term and enrolled at

Chelsea College of Arts Chelsea College of Arts is a Colleges of the University of the Arts London, constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art and design university in London, England. It offers further education, further and higher educ ...

in London in 1999. She graduated in 2004. From 2007 to 2008, Shiga was part of an

Agency of Cultural Affairs The is a special body of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). It was set up in 1968 to promote Japanese arts and culture. The agency's budget for FY 2018 rose to ¥107.7 billion. Overview The age ...

program for young artists that allowed her to continue studying in London. While participating in the program she published ''Lilly,'' a photograph collection of people living in her apartment building. She also won the

Kimura Ihei Award The is a Japanese photography award. The award has been given every year since 1975 (except 1983) by the Asahi Shimbun Company, publisher of ''Asahi Shimbun'' and the magazine ''Asahi Camera'', in honor of the photographer Ihei Kimura was a Ja ...

for ''Canary,'' a photograph series taken in Australia and

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture and the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,098,335 in 539,698 households, making it the List of cities in Japan, twelfth most populated city in Japan. ...

. In 2009 she won an Infinity Award from the

International Center of Photography The International Center of Photography (ICP) is a photography museum and school at 84 Ludlow Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. ICP's photographic collection, reading room, and archives are at Mana Contemporary in Jer ...

in New York City. After returning to Japan, Shiga moved to Kitakama, Miyagi, where she partnered with a local cameraman to photograph festivals and

sports day Sports Day (British English & Canadian English), field days (American English), or play days (Canadian English) are events staged by many schools and offices in which people participate in competitive sporting activities, often with the aim of w ...

s while recording

oral histories Oral history is the collection and study of historical information from people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who pa ...

with residents. While there, she and the other people who lived in Kitakama were devastated by the

2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number) * One of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''Eleven'', a 1970 collection of short stories by Patricia Highsmith *''Eleven'' ...

. The earthquake destroyed Shiga's studio, but more importantly it killed sixty people in the small village. Collecting over 30,000 photographs that survived the disaster, Shiga expanded them into the ‘Rasen Kaigan (Spiral Coast)’ (2008–2012) series. As she told the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2018, the work consists of images from before and after the tsunami and centres on the spirit and history of the Kitakama village. In 2012 Shiga won the

Higashikawa Prize The has been awarded to photographers by the "Phototown" of Higashikawa, Hokkaidō, Japan since 1985. The Overseas and Domestic Photographer prizes are of 500,000 yen and the New Photographer and Special prizes are of 300,000 yen. The work of t ...

for new artists. In 2021 Shiga received, alongside Takeuchi Kota, the Tokyo Contemporary Art Award (TCAA) 2021–2023. The Selection Committee said that her practice ‘condenses important elements for reflecting on the society in which we find ourselves, including concepts like human nature, center and periphery, death and mourning, regulation and freedom, and harmony with nature.’

Style

Shiga has been compared to

Rinko Kawauchi Rinko Kawauchi HonFRPS (川内倫子, ''Kawauchi Rinko,'' born 1972) is a Japanese photographer. "Her work is characterized by a serene, poetic style, depicting the ordinary moments in life." Life and work Kawauchi became interested in photogr ...

, one of her contemporaries, but her style is more

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

. Her photographs have been called "dreamscapes" by Marco Bohr (in ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine), who also compared her to Masatoshi Naito. Her images are surreal and gloomy, but mostly inspired by the places around her.

Bibliography

* * * *

Collections

Shiga's work is held in the following permanent collections: *

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, New York City *

J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California, United States, housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. It is operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust, the world's wealthies ...

, Los Angeles *

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...

, San Francisco

References

External links

* {{ACArt 1980 births Living people People from Aichi Prefecture Japanese photographers