Ema Shin

Ema Shin is a Japanese born artist with Korean heritage who lives and works in Naarm/Melbourne. Her interdisciplinary practice interrogates notions of femininity, sexuality, identity, and womanhood. Working predominantly in soft sculpture and tapestry, Shin turns a feminist lens to the erasure of women from history within her family, heritage and culture. Absent women are represented in Shin's practice through soft sculpture facsimiles of human organs made from soft cloth or woven as tapestry and embellished with beading, embroidery and needlework. These intricate sculptures draw on the tactile tradition of women’s craft to reclaim agency within a cultural narrative that is historically gendered. Her works act as vessels, not only as an expression of personal and collective histories, but as a means of symbolic reclamation against a backdrop of marginalisation. Each thread, bead, and stitch stands as both a silent protest and a powerful tribute to absent and unseen women. Shin obtained a residency at the Australian Tapestry Workshop in 2012 and has continued to work in textiles and the tapestry medium since that time. Her accolades include being Highly Commended in the 2013 Irene Davies Emerging Artist Award for Small Tapestries, winning the Kate Derum Award for Small Tapestries in 2017 and in the same year being selected for the 3rd Tamworth Textile Triennial (touring), curated by Glenn Barkley. 2017 saw her selected for the Chaozhou International Embroidery Art Biennale in China and in 2023 she was Highly Commended in the 10th International Artist’s Book Triennial in Lithuania which travelled to seven venues in Europe and the USA. The same year she was also shortlisted for the Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award. Shin has exhibited in curated exhibitions in Lithuania, USA, China, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Germany, England, Kenya, Mexico, Bulgaria and in curated projects, solo shows and art prizes throughout Australia. She featured in the 25th Biennale of Sydney in 2026.

Artworks