Lieko Shiga

Shiga was born in Okazaki, Aichi in 1980.{{Cite web|url=https://www.icp.org/infinity-awards/lieko-shiga|title=2009 Infinity Award: Young Photographer|date=2016-02-23|website=International Center of Photography|language=en|access-date=2019-03-07}} After graduating from high school she enrolled in Tokyo Polytechnic University. She left school halfway through the term and enrolled at Chelsea College of Arts in London in 1999. She graduated in 2004.[http://www.kanazawa21.jp/data_list.php?g=24&d=1668 志賀理江子によるアーティスト・トーク] From 2007 to 2008, Shiga was part of an Agency of Cultural Affairs 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 for Canary, a photograph series taken in Australia and Sendai. In 2009 she won an Infinity Award from the International Center of Photography in New York City.{{Cite web|url=https://www.icp.org/infinity-awards/past-recipients|title=Past Recipients|date=2016-05-16|website=International Center of Photography|language=en|access-date=2019-03-07}}

After returning to Japan, Shiga moved to Kitakama, Miyagi, where she partnered with a local cameraman to photograph festivals and sports days while recording oral histories with residents. While there, she and the other people who lived in Kitakama were devastated by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. The earthquake destroyed Shiga's studio, but more importantly it killed sixty people in the small village.{{Cite web|url=http://www.1000wordsmag.com/lieko-shiga/|title=Lieko Shiga {{!}} 1000 Words|website=www.1000wordsmag.com|date=October 2013 |access-date=2019-03-07}} Collecting over 30,000 photographs that survived the disaster, Shiga expanded them into the ‘Rasen Kaigan (Spiral Coast)’ (2008–2012) series.{{Cite web|last=Paik|first=Sherry|title=Lieko Shiga|url=https://ocula.com/artists/lieko-shiga/|website=Ocula}}{{Cite web|last=QAGOMA|title=SHIGA Lieko|url=https://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/past-exhibitions/apt8/artists/shiga-lieko|access-date=2021-02-25|website=Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art|language=English}} 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.{{Citation|last=San Francisco Museum of Modern Art|title=Lieko Shiga on Kitakama village and the 2011 tsunami|date=2018|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ko4eC0vuBo|language=en|access-date=2021-02-25}}

In 2012 Shiga won the Higashikawa Prize for new artists.{{Cite web|url=https://photo-town.jp/collection/winner/shiga-lieko|title=受賞作家名: SHIGA Lieko – 志賀 理江子|website=東川町国際写真フェスティバル|language=ja|access-date=2019-03-07}}

In 2021 Shiga received, alongside Takeuchi Kota, the Tokyo Contemporary Art Award (TCAA) 2021–2023.{{Cite news|last=Gaskin|first=Sam|date=February 11, 2021|title=Shiga Lieko and Takeuchi Kota Win Tokyo Contemporary Art Award|work=Ocula Magazine|url=https://ocula.com/magazine/art-news/shiga-lieko-and-takeuchi-kota-win-tokyo-award/}} 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.’

Shiga has been compared to Rinko Kawauchi, one of her contemporaries, but her style is more expressionist.{{Cite web|url=http://www.1000wordsmag.com/lieko-shiga/|title=Lieko Shiga {{!}} Rasen Kaigan/album (Spiral Coast/album)|last=Badger|first=Gerry|website=www.1000wordsmag.com|date=October 2013 |access-date=2019-03-07}} Her photographs have been called "dreamscapes" by Marco Bohr (in Time magazine), who also compared her to Masatoshi Naito.{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/3799078/dreamscapes-the-fantastical-photographs-of-lieko-shiga/|title=Dreamscapes: The Fantastical Photographs of Lieko Shiga|last=Bohr|first=Marco|date=May 6, 2013|magazine=Time|language=en-us|access-date=2019-03-07}} Her images are surreal and gloomy, but mostly inspired by the places around her.{{Cite web|url=http://www.objektiv.no/realises/2016/3/14/13kpf2c02jjhdn1jvgudpyndg7y6iw|title=Outside of Time - Lieko Shiga|last=Famighetti|first=Michael|date=March 14, 2016|website=Objektiv|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-07}}

• {{Cite book|title=Lilly|last=Shiga|first=Lieko|publisher=アートビートパブリッシャーズ|year=2008|isbn=9784902080131}}
• {{Cite book|title=Canary|last=Shiga|first=Lieko|publisher=赤々舎|year=2008}}
• {{Cite book|title=螺旋海岸 notebook|last=Shiga|first=Lieko|publisher=赤々舎|year=2013|isbn=9784903545912}}
• {{Cite book|title=螺旋海岸 album|last=Shiga|first=Lieko|publisher=赤々舎|year=2013|isbn=9784903545929}}

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

• Museum of Modern Art, New York City{{Cite web|url=https://www.moma.org/artists/47214|title=Lieko Shiga {{!}} MoMA|website=The Museum of Modern Art|language=en|access-date=2019-03-07}}
• J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles{{Cite web|url=http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/32934/lieko-shiga-japanese-born-1980/|title=Lieko Shiga (Japanese, born 1980) (Getty Museum)|website=The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles|language=en|access-date=2019-03-07}}
• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfmoma.org/artist/lieko_shiga/|title=Lieko Shiga · SFMOMA|website=www.sfmoma.org|access-date=2019-03-07}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|www.liekoshiga.com}}

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Category:1980 births

Category:Living people

Category:People from Aichi Prefecture

Category:Japanese photographers