"Suspended within the exhibition space, the piece occupies the room with a soft mass of red and white textiles. Dense embroidery traces arteries and vessels across the surface, while clusters of beads and pearls gather along the contours. Even with this ambitious new scale, it maintains the tactile intimacy of Shin's smaller works."
"Thousands of stitches accumulate across the surface to give the work a layered density that changes with distance. From afar the sculpture reads as a single organic mass. Up close, the viewer encounters loops of thread, small knots, and beads that reveal the slow labor behind its making."
"The hearts are a celebration of women's domestic duties which often happen silently and behind-the-scenes. They are both representations of these women's emotions, as well as amulets for their protection."
Ema Shin debuts a large-scale embroidered heart at the 2026 Biennale of Sydney, expanding her established practice of creating textile hearts. The sculpture features dense embroidery depicting arteries and vessels, adorned with beads and pearls, maintaining the tactile intimacy characteristic of her smaller works despite its ambitious scale. The piece appears anatomical, with bulging chambers and branching red threads suggesting biological systems. Thousands of stitches create layered density that transforms depending on viewing distance. The work belongs to Shin's ongoing project Hearts of Absent Women (Tree of Family), responding to her family tree where only male relatives were recorded. The hearts celebrate women's domestic contributions and serve as representations of their emotions and protective amulets for women historically unrecognized.
Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine
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