I’ve written about the significance of red thread in the work of artists such as Akiko Ikeuchi, Chiharu Shiota, and Beili Liu (blog post here). Recently I came across this beautiful work by Beili Liu, Bound #2 (2009), which Liu made after moving to Austin, Texas and featured at D Berman gallery. Beili Liu wrote about the piece:

“Two weathered, human-sized oak columns (reclaimed wood from shipping containers) stand in opposition to each other, with thousands of gossamer red threads spanning the distance between them. Each thread is held in place by a needle at each end. Although the thousands of lines connect the two columns and visually pull them towards each other, they are solidly anchored in place and stand silently apart.”

As I mentioned in the previous post, there is a Japanese folk story about the significance of the red thread, that two souls destined to be together are connected by an invisible red thread, and no matter the time, place or situation this thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break.

Another Japanese folk story similarly speaks about this distance, connection and longing for a destined or lost love: If a boy ever loses his loved one, he will search for her in everyone he meets, and that if you can’t sleep at night it’s because you’re awake in someone else’s dreams. The sun and moon yearn for each other, but time kept these two people apart. So, the Creator painted the skies with eclipses, proving that even the most improbable love can unite,