From sericulture to silk extraction, to dyeing, the silk industry, is originated from the Yangtze River. The location which along with the water, the meandering and winding river which bends around, the tender and lingering Wu dialect, all these essential conditions emerged the prosperity of the silk industry. Silk technique almost generated with the emergence of ancient Chinese culture and spread out until today.
There is a saying that there are more than 1,400 kinds of silk thread in Suzhou, which are much more than in other countries.
It is worth mentioning that the implication of the silk medium is: connection, communication, and correlation. In Hidemi SHIMURA’s works, she used plenty of silk thread and cotton thread as media, because she had a special feeling for silk thread when she lived there a few years ago in Suzhou.
“Since the phenomenon of things has been presented, it can be explored”, in her work of the previous years, the silk thread and the bar code of modern society have become her “phenomenon”. It is a new “phenomenon” under the experience of ancient civilization and modern civilization, which is strongly contrasting but also with moderate color.
When it comes to the silk thread, it always seems to be entwined with the streamlet which peculiar to the south of the Yangtze River, flowing slowly together. Hidemi SHIMURA participated in the residency project in Zhujiajiao water town this year. She collected small pieces of stones or tiles from the building sites and connected them with threads in different colors, then created a small universe, a new “phenomenon”. The wooden frame, which pasted with the photos taken on the streets of Shanghai was also made by the artist, and it recorded the daily life of the southern citizens. Various small stones from her works indicated the changes in time and structure, they are combined with the photos of modern Shanghai into the works. It implied to integrate the past and present span the time.
In the coming second space of the Shun Art Gallery in the old French concession, Taiyuan Space, there will be the opening exhibition “Track” which displays the “Silent Invader” series created in Suzhou and the “Parallel World” series creating in Zhujiajiao. These works transcend time and space, they are just as intricate as everyone’s story. In the new exhibition space of the old house, the present and previous works of the artist will be presented in the same space.
Actually, everything in the world can be connected by clues, from the track of individuals to the evolution of culture and history. The clues that tracing back to the past can also advance the future, the interaction of the past and the present, they seem also implies that the beginning is also the end.
Hidemi SHIMURA’s new series inspired by her fresh perspective of Shanghai which is innovative and advancing. Hope you can enjoy it with us.
The red silk thread is a sad song, the green silk thread is a poem that allows you to remain detached and mysterious in danger.
Shun
the rainy midnight in Shanghai
