Year: 2018
Medium: watercolor, oil pastel, thread on paper
Dimensions: 56 x 42 cm (22 x 16 1/2 in.)
Acquired from Kenji Taki Gallery, 2022
Shiota confronted death when she experienced her ovarian cancer recurrence in 2017. After undergoing a six-hour oophorectomy and enduring five months of chemotherapy, she beat the disease. The 2019 solo exhibition “The Soul Trembles,” which marked the beginning of the international reputation Shiota now enjoys, was held with the evident spirit of the artist who has overcome her illness. As the name of the series “Cell” suggests, which includes this work, is a group of works that takes cells as its subject matter. Cancer is a cell tissue that has increased abnormally due to a failure of the apoptosis (cell death) process. As the human body is composed of cells, losing their normalcy can lead directly to death. While Shiota tackles the issues of life and death in her own work, her battle with illness brings her into contact with a terrifying pathology that governs both. In this work, a ballooning red cellular structure seems to be secured by a single thread, barely stabilizing it. Cells cannot be controlled at their own will, and once they have formed a lesion, they must ultimately be combated with external interventions in the form of medical treatment. The mind must fight through the pain to save the body. Shiota endured enough pain to pull her mind and body apart, and “Cell” was created to reclaim her human dignity, her ego, and her own body.
