Chiharu Shiota knew she wanted to be an artist by the time she was 12. She was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1972, and her parents, who manufactured fish boxes for a living, worried about their daughter’s creative pursuits but still supported her. A performance and installation artist, Shiota created her first work in 1994, Becoming Painting, in which she layered red enamel paint on her body. She moved on to the use of red yarn, draped and tangled to suggest blood, the heart, a synaptic map. For this exhibition, Shiota has fashioned her yarn in sympathy with the art at the Fundació Antoni Tàpies. It’s a reflection on the intricacies of memory, trauma, and dreams. —Elena Clavarino