Lieko Shiga (b. 1980, Aichi, Japan) is a photographer who currently lives and works in Miyagi, Japan, where she was involved in the local community, has continued producing works related to memories that span generations, thinking about life through imaginations of death, and the relationship between nature and human society. She links her experiences in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake – which saw the breaking down of social functions along the coast and the unforgiving disposition of the laws of nature – to recovery efforts in postwar Japan, inciting an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. Through her creative process and production, Shiga seeks the roots of the human spirit. Her recent solo exhibitions include RASEN KAIGAN, Sendai Mediatheque, Miyagi, Japan (2012); CANARY, Foam Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2013); Lieko Shiga: Blind Date, Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, Marugame, Japan (2017); Human Spring, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2019). Shiga’s most recent group exhibitions include Roppongi Crossing: Can There Be Art? The Creative Potential of a New Japan, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2010); Aichi Triennale, Aichi, Japan (2010); Ocean of Images: New Photography, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA (2015); Building Romance, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan (2018) and Off the Wall, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA (2021).
