‘I was on a conveyor belt to death’: the astonishing worlds of Chiharu Shiota

‘Life is like travelling without destination’: Shiota’s work Uncertain Journey, made from metal and red wool. Photograph: Sunhi Mang/Mori Art Museum, Tokyo

In 2016, the day after Chiharu Shiota was presented with plans for an ambitious solo exhibition spanning her 30-year artistic career, she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of ovarian cancer.

“I felt my soul was going to separate from my body … I was frightened,” the artist says now. “My daughter was nine years old. How can she survive without a mother? … There was a lot of thinking about the universe and soul.”