on the way home#009
©Mari Katayama
Main Gallery Area Artist
on the way home#010
©Mari Katayama
on the way home#011
©Mari Katayama
Artist Information
Mari Katayama
1987 born in Saitama
2012 M.F.A., Tokyo University of the Arts, Intermedia Art
2013 “Aichi Triennale 2013”, Nayabashi (Aichi,Japan)
2016 “DAEGU PHOTO BIENNALE2016 Me in the Photography”Daegu Culture & Arts Center (Daegu,Korea)
2016 “Roppongi Crossing - My body, your voice”, Mori Art Museum (Tokyo,Japan)
2017 “On the Way Home”, the Museum of Modern Art, Gunma (Gunma,Japan)
2017 “Photographs of innocence and of experience—Contemporary Japanese Photography vol.14”, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum(Tokyo,Japan)
These photos are the final 3 pieces of my trilogy works which consist of "Shadow puppet", "bystander", and "on the way home". The journey originally began from my room, carried to ocean, mountain, and river with support by many people I met on the way.Then, I finally came back to my room at the end.Meanwhile, having my own child inside my body was such a curious experience for me. It formed a mysterious shape, combining the senses of discomfort and affection, just like the sculpture works I often create.That's how I came to realize you'll never remain the same even when you're back to the same place you originally started.
Selector
Vice Director of Bridgestone Museum of Art, Ishibashi Foundation
[Comment by Selector]
What Mari Katayama creates her work from is her own daily life. She visualizes keepsakes and memories of the things she thinks, experiences, and cherishes as beautiful in her everyday life. As if validating her own life, her work portrays various people and objects related to her. For her, the scene is commonplace, but just the presence of prosthetic limbs makes it less so for the viewer. However, her work speedily pushes past that sort of gaze, which those who think themselves physically healthy have. It says, “my prosthetics are easy to understand, and it is no different from your features, complexes, and what you consider to be beauty”.