Preface
To all of you meeting for the first time, nice to meet you.
And to those of you who have always been watching over me,
welcome to Eihi Shiina KOTONOHA Art Museum.
I started my long oddyssey of expressing myself as a model,
then being a photographer, poet, and actress...
and finally, I have arrived at the place where I should return.
The place where I was in 1999,
as a KOTONOHA artist who spins words into yarn and weaves them into art.
The days I have been always gazing upon in the midst of the changing times.
Where there is light, there is always shadow.
Joy and sorrow are two sides of the same coin.
They coexist in the same circle, not excluding each other.
I live my life with this thought in mind.
The brilliance of flowers flourishing in the light and the atmosphere of a rose blooming in the dark.
The sparkle of sunlight shining down and the pale shades of darkness illuminated by moonlight.
The shadow of sorrow behind the smile.
That what we see and hear is not the only truth.
That even the sky should always exist is not the same even for a second and is not eternal.
That all things equally exist in this world.
I will never forget them.
The place where joy and sorrow meet,
where light and shadow mingle.
When I release the shutter,
when I gaze at the subject,
when I spin the words,
I always look at the place never changes.
Sometimes it brings me endless pain and suffering but,
I will,
with looking at both of them,
weave my words.
As long as I live.
As long as I am myself.
KOTONOHA artist Eihi Shiina