Chiharu Shiota & Yin Xiuzhen at Southbank Centre: Threads, Suitcases & the Things We Carry

NOVA ESEA
Apr 16
3 min read

Updated: 6 days ago

There's something about visiting two exhibitions in one go that feels indulgent, like ordering two desserts without feeling guilty. We went to the Hayward Gallery to see Chiharu Shiota. Her thread installations had been all over my feed, and I'd been meaning to go for weeks. Yin Xiuzhen was the other name on the ticket, someone I didn't know much about going in. But I left thinking most about her work.

Yin Xiuzhen: Cities in Suitcases

You walk into Yin Xiuzhen's half first, and the first thing you see is an airport luggage carousel, except the suitcases sitting on it contain entire cities, each one stitched together from the used clothing of the people who actually live there. Above it all hangs a giant aeroplane, also made from fabric. It's one of those installations that takes a second to register, and then hits you all at once.

Portable City: London was made from donated clothes collected from Southbank Centre staff — real garments from real Londoners, transformed into an impression of the city they call home. Yin's view is that home is no longer a fixed address but a collection of belongings packed and ready for transport, and for anyone who's ever lived far from where they grew up, that land.

I stood there longer than I expected to.

Chiharu Shiota: Every Thread Has a Story

Upstairs, Shiota fills the gallery with dense webs of red and black thread — thousands of keys, letters, and objects suspended mid-air, as if caught between one moment and the next. It's visually arresting in a way that photographs can't quite capture.

The piece I kept coming back to was Letters of Thanks — letters hanging from threads, each one handwritten, each one different. Standing in the middle of it, surrounded by all that gratitude from all those strangers, felt unexpectedly moving. You don't need to read every word to feel the weight of them.

The Moment That Stayed With Me

Coming down the stairs after Shiota's exhibition, I suddenly got the full view of Yin Xiuzhen's installation below — the luggage carousel, the fabric cities, the soft plane suspended in the air. Planned or not, it was a perfect moment. Two artists, two floors, one continuous thought about where we're from and where we're going.

Both exhibitions are on at Hayward Gallery until 3 May 2026. One ticket covers both, I highly recommend paying a visit

Been to Hayward Gallery and had your own unexpected moment with the installations? We'd love to hear in the comments!