Charleston artist Hirona Matsuda’s latest exhibition, Reflections on Coexistence, offers a site-specific meditation on communication and its breakdowns.
Opened in May and on view at Public Works Art Center in Summerville through July 12, the show continues Matsuda’s practice of using found and salvaged materials in her work. Mirrors play a central role in this body of work, which explores the frustration, tenderness, and nuance of communication—especially in close relationships.
The artist’s inspiration came from a deeply personal experience: living with her mother for 10 years as she gradually lost her hearing.
“It comes from the frustration of being so close with a parent, but not being able to get on the same page,” Matsuda said in a recent interview.
Reflections on Coexistence examines our relationships with others —“how we communicate and how we view ourselves during these interactions,” she said. “Living for years with someone who gradually lost their hearing was fascinating and frustrating… I learned things about how people communicate that I hadn’t been aware of.”
The show analyzes that experience, she explained — exploring why certain moments made her feel “comfortable or uncomfortable, angry or acknowledged, and most importantly, heard and understood.”
Continuing on familial themes
Matsuda is known for exploring themes of family, memory, place and belonging through shadow boxes and assemblage works, as well as immersive, site-specific pieces balancing light, texture, sound and emotional resonance.
A 2007 graduate of the College of Charleston, she has steadily expanded her practice, exhibiting in Charleston and beyond, while also working as director of merchandising at Artist & Craftsman Supply. In her 2023 solo show at the city of Charleston’s City Gallery, We Were Made from Shadows, Matsuda recreated personal memories from her upbringing.
With Reflections on Coexistence, she continues along a familial path, but sharpens her focus on communication — how we interact, how we mirror one another and what it means to truly listen.
Interactive pieces like “Sitting With Yourself” require two viewers to activate. The work consists of two wooden chairs with see-through seats that are directly across from each other. Between them is a two-sided round mirror. When seated, viewers see the illusion of their head on the other person’s body — and vice versa.
The piece is inspired by communication between Matsuda and her mother, she said.
“It’s about being reflected in another person… how brutal it is to see your worst traits acted out by someone else — and to realize it bothers you because it means you’re capable of the same thing.”
The work invites viewers to consider what it means to truly see someone — and to be seen in return. “There’s a difference between knowing you should be empathetic and actually sitting with the real, physical experience of facing someone… You start to notice your preconceived notions, and maybe let them go.”
Whispering, listening
Another standout piece is “Whispering Wall,” an installation that entices viewers to engage directly. It cleverly incorporates the gallery’s architectural columns — remnants from its past as a post office — by stringing tin cans in a long arc across the space. One row sits low to the ground, while another is strung higher and fitted with a motorized mechanism. A piece of wood runs alongside those top strings, obscuring communication between speakers using the higher row.
The setup is nostalgic, but layered: a tongue-in-cheek nod to hearing loss, but also a reflection on the emotional filters and communication barriers that grow with age.
That play between humor and heaviness continues in “Listener/Speaker,” a work made of two speakers — one emits faint whispers; the other is silent. It’s a quiet but biting commentary on how often people speak without listening, and how conversations can become one-sided despite good intentions.
Matsuda’s show is full of this clever storytelling. Several pieces use mirrors to reflect on reflection itself — literally and emotionally. In “Glass Houses” and “Throwing Stones,” viewers confront projection and self-awareness, echoing the phrase “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”
“A Different Angle” uses salvaged mirrors to create a fragmented, disorienting experience, while “True Mirror” reveals your face as others see it — rather than the reversed version we’re used to. These works examine how we recognize — or don’t recognize — ourselves in others, and how facing our own image can be both vulnerable and profound.
Matsuda said she hopes the show prompts viewers to reflect on how they communicate.
“How we judge or empathize with others and ourselves… If we all approached each other with more openness, maybe we’d be less reactive and more empathetic,” she said. “So often, people focus on proving points of difference instead of finding common ground. But when you really listen, you realize most of our ideals come from the same place. We’re all just human.”
The exhibition has drawn a wide range of responses, Matsuda shared, noting that Public Works has been the perfect setting for this body of work. Children delight in the tactile, interactive components, while adults often walk away reflecting on their own experiences — especially those tied to aging parents, memory, and communication breakdowns over time.
Reflections on Coexistence is on view at Public Works Art Center in Summerville through July 12.
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
