At London’s Southbank Centre, the Hayward Gallery presents a dual exhibition featuring Threads of Life by Japanese performance and installation artist Chiharu Shiota and Heart to Heart by Chinese sculptor Yin Xiuzhen, offering a thoughtful exploration of memory, identity and the emotional resonance of everyday materials.Seen together, the exhibitions create a reflective dialogue between two distinct artistic approaches, both rooted in personal and collective histories.
Shiota’s expansive thread installations remain the most immediately immersive element of the show. Vast networks of red and black string envelop the gallery space, suspending objects such as keys, beds and letters in intricate constellations. The effect is visually powerful and conceptually open-ended, inviting visitors to consider themes of connection, absence and the invisible ties between people and place.
In Heart to Heart, Yin Xiuzhen takes a more intimate approach, transforming secondhand clothing and domestic materials into sculptural works that reflect on migration, urban change and lived experience. Her use of fabric and familiar objects gives the work a grounded, tactile quality, particularly in pieces that reimagine cities and personal histories through repurposed materials.
While Shiota’s work leans towards large-scale immersion and Yin Xiuzhen’s towards quieter reflection, both practices intersect in their sensitivity to memory and transformation. Together, the exhibition provides a contemplative and visually engaging experience that encourages visitors to move between the personal and the collective, the material and the emotional.
Chiharu Shiota: Threads of Life and Yin Xiuzhen: Heart to Heart continue at the Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, until 3rd May 2026.
Get your tickets here.
WRITTEN BY NURA AROOJ
