Meanwhile, attached to the opposite wall is the series “State of Being” (2016), where cubes are cocooned in the same red string. Inside one cube, suspended by the thread, is a set of old keys; in another are miniature books that look as if they are swathed in a web. Here, Shiota has created a world where objects are suspended in time and space. In her work, she explores the significance and weight of objects around us, weaving them into human narratives where our bodies are symbolized by the red string. Keys have also featured in the artist’s previous work. In an interview with ArtAsiaPacific earlier this year, the artist explained: “The keys tell so many stories . . . [they] are the embodiment of something that is very personal, very important in every individual’s life. Without your key, you are lost.”

Another interpretation of “State of Being” is that it is an analogy for human memory. Just as we can remember the fine details of an immediate action with clarity, the red string when seen up close is clear and defined, its textures palpable. However, if we step back and take in the image as a whole, everything becomes blurred and less defined, a warm flood of red, like distant memories. When contemplated in this sense, the tunnel to the chairs perhaps symbolizes nostalgia. In the way that an unexpected encounter with a familiar smell, touch or taste can evoke nostalgia and transport us back in time, Shiota reminds the viewer that the past is always intertwined with the present.

As the exhibition title, “Absent Bodies,” suggests, Shiota does not appear in the artwork herself as she has done in her previous performance pieces. However, in the show, the human figure feels present in some form, its traces suggested by marks left behind in string. Perhaps it is the artist’s technique of hand-weaving the labyrinth herself that gives the viewer a further sense of the human body and the sheer physical labor put into the work.

Meanwhile, The Home Within—a large-scale installation that first debuted at Federation Square’s theatre space, Deakin Edge, then later traveled to locations such as Melbourne’s Meat Market and the Melbourne Town Hall throughout the month of October—allowed viewers to walk through the tall chapel-like structure. The installation consisted of red thread wrapped around the skeleton framework of a house. Viewers were able to immerse themselves in the structure and look through the hectic, web-like ceiling as they traversed the seemingly never-ending network of red string.

Perhaps what is most appealing about Shiota’s work is the heaviness of the human condition she expresses through her works. The red thread denotes strength, fragility and the boundless networks of human relationships and interactions. One leaves her spaces with a sense of having grappled with big questions and bigger narratives surrounding the nature of time, memory and one’s relations to objects. Shiota’s work is both challenging and provocative in this sense, but also quiet and meditative.

Chiharu Shiota’s “Absent Bodies” is on view at Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne, until November 5, 2016. Her installation The Home Within traveled to three locations in the same city, Federation Square’s Deakin Edge, the Meat Market, and the Melbourne Town Hall, as part of the Melbourne Festival, which concluded on October 23, 2016.