Fabric of Memory: Yin Xiuzhen and Chiharu Shiota at Hayward Gallery
On 17 February 2026, two major exhibitions opened at Hayward Gallery — Yin Xiuzhen: Heart to Heart and Chiharu Shiota: Threads of Life, on view until 3 May 2026. United by a shared exploration of memory and human experience, both exhibitions invite visitors to reconsider familiar objects. Clothing, thread, furniture, and everyday materials are transformed into powerful artistic mediums, carrying traces of personal lives and collective histories. Afisha.London magazine has explored two exhibitions.
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Yin Xiuzhen: Heart to Heart brings together key works by the Chinese artist, whose practice over the past three decades has explored memory, urbanisation, and the impact of globalisation. At the centre of her work is used clothing, which she describes as a “second skin.” These garments hold the imprint of those who once wore them and become the foundation of installations where personal memory intersects with wider social and cultural change.
A highlight of the exhibition is the newly commissioned installation A Heart to Heart, created specifically for Hayward Gallery. Combining fabric and steel, the work forms an architectural structure that visitors can enter. Continuing her ongoing Cavity series, in which she creates sculptures inspired by internal organs, Yin transforms the interior of the body into a space for encounter and reflection. The installation encourages visitors to pause, slow down, and reflect on their connection to others and the world around them.
Photo: Afisha.London
The idea of movement runs throughout Yin’s practice. In her Portable City series, fragments of clothing are assembled into miniature urban landscapes contained within suitcases, presenting the city as something portable and constantly in flux. These works reflect the realities of contemporary life, where the idea of home is no longer fixed and belonging is increasingly fluid. In Collective Subconscious (Blue), an extended minibus constructed from hundreds of garments becomes a symbol of shared memory, bringing together individual experiences into a collective narrative rooted in Beijing.
Alongside this exhibition, Hayward Gallery presents Chiharu Shiota: Threads of Life, which explores the Japanese artist’s immersive installations made from densely woven thread. Filling entire spaces with intricate networks of red, black, or white thread, Shiota creates environments that evoke memory, emotion, and the invisible connections between people.
Photo: Afisha.London
Her works often incorporate everyday objects such as beds, letters, and clothing, which act as anchors of personal experience within these abstract environments. In During Sleep, beds enveloped in black thread suggest a state between sleep and waking. On Saturdays, performers “sleep” within the installation, becoming part of the work itself.
In Letters of Thanks, Shiota invites visitors to write letters expressing gratitude, creating a growing archive of personal emotion. These collected letters form a visual and emotional landscape of human relationships, connecting people across different places and cultures through a shared act of remembrance.
Photo: Afisha.London
Presented together, the exhibitions by Yin Xiuzhen and Chiharu Shiota create a powerful dialogue around memory, time, and belonging. Both artists use physical materials to preserve traces of lived experience, transforming Hayward Gallery into a space for reflection on how personal histories are shaped by wider social and global change. The exhibitions offer not only a visual experience, but also an opportunity to reflect on our own relationship with memory, place, and the passage of time.
Cover photo: Afisha.London
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