[2] From 2007 to 2008, Shiga was part of an Agency of Cultural Affairs program for young artists that allowed her to continue studying in London.
[3] After returning to Japan, Shiga moved to Kitakama, Miyagi, where she partnered with a local cameraman to photograph festivals and sports days while recording oral histories with residents.
[4] Collecting over 30,000 photographs that survived the disaster, Shiga expanded them into the ‘Rasen Kaigan (Spiral Coast)’ (2008–2012) series.
[5][6] As she told the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2018, the work consists of images from before and after the tsunami and centres on the spirit and history of the Kitakama village.
[9] The Selection Committee said that her practice ‘condenses important elements for reflecting on the society in which we find ourselves, including concepts like human nature, center and periphery, death and mourning, regulation and freedom, and harmony with nature.’ Shiga has been compared to Rinko Kawauchi, one of her contemporaries, but her style is more expressionist.