Mari Katayama

Mari: I wanted a quiet place. A very quiet place. I really love music, maybe more than art, but I don't listen to music that much when I'm creating. I believe I can face myself when it's really quiet. I used to sing in a jazz bar. And, the master, owner gave me this speaker after the jazz bar closed.

It's like a guardian angel. Dancing in a club is very important. The reason for this is that clubs are very dark and the only light is from a mirror ball. Then it doesn't matter if you are big or small, what kind of clothes you are wearing, what kind of dance you are doing, or even if you have no feet or fingers.

I always press the shutter myself. That's my motto. Why is that? Because when I was young, when I was a teenager, I didn't know much about the camera, even though the objects were made by me, when others photograph me and the objects, they become their works of art.

It's a really tiny shutter, but if you just press it, it takes it away from me. It sounds a bit violent, but it becomes the other persons' work of art. It's easy to deprive a person of their existence, by simply pressing that one little button.

I always think about the relationship through the camera. The relationship between the photographer, the person being photographed and the viewer is not equal. I think it is possible to establish an equal relationship between the photographer, the photographed, and the viewer. Art can do that.

This is my first portfolio. At that time I couldn't imagine what is a portfolio, so I sent just three papers. Only this. I think no one knew it. It was like: “What is a portfolio? Is it a bit like a CV?" I guess that's what I imagined. My grandfather was a real art lover, and he used to take me to art galleries and museums on weekends. I grew up looking at Japanese paintings, Japanese art, crafts. I think that's why I couldn't call my obscure objects art. My mother would always tell me not to do what I couldn't do. “Do what you can do”.

So, for example, the option of cutting off my leg, a choice that I could make and I chose it because I knew that by choosing it, I could go on to the next step. and if it was something impossible, I probably would have looked for a different way. and I've kept doing what I could really do.

So now I can do things that I couldn't do in the past. That kind of experience, that kind of thing, makes me who I am now. I have a motto about materials. It's always to use materials that anyone can get anywhere. and I think that the needle and thread are the strongest tools.

I think we can make anything with a needle and thread. Therefore, those two points about materials are so important to me. It may be a leap to say this from talking about materials, but the ultimate goal of art, in my own childhood experience is to become something public. I think the most public thing is education. So art should be for everyone, no matter what materials are used. But, I want to make my work, as much as possible, from materials that are available to everyone. I don't want my work to be something special.

I think I'm using material that I can relate to internally. If you cut a shell, there is a golden ratio. I feel that humans also have that kind of thing (golden ratio). So even if we add something artificial, put on makeup, change our hairstyle, etc., we still have the same thing as these shells.

I think fashion is a ticket to go out into society. So, in childhood, children imitate their parents and put their feet in their mother's or father's big shoes at the entrance. It's really a small event in everyday life. The biggest challenge within the High Heel Project was that fashion and dressing up were considered unnecessary in the context of welfare, especially disability welfare and medical treatment. It was said that it is not a necessary act or thing to go out into society. This child, oops I called it my child! This work will travel many places. It needs to be strong, so I sew it up firmly by hand.

When I was a child, adults used to say that nature, the earth, wonderful and beautiful nature, that nature is simply beautiful in its own way. The natural form is beautiful. Then I had to do a lot of surgical reshaping of my body, do something artificial, to survive. This body is not natural. So it's not beautiful? I was wondering if it was beautiful or not.

So I have chosen to create something with the beauty of nature in an artificial way. I might be making those choices with the feeling of challenging this idea. I walk step by step, and even when I think I might not be able to reach a place that is so far away, every step I take brings me closer and closer to it. And here I am, it's about 400 meters long. I'm sewing, but every stitch I make brings me closer to completion. There is such a similar relationship. Like making each stitch, no matter whether it is a goal or a destination, if you keep on walking, you will always reach it.