Mari Katayama carries out her artistic activities on her two prosthetic legs. She was born with tibial hemimelia, a deficiency in which the major, larger leg bone is absent. As a result, both of her legs were amputated at age 9. Ever since, she has been expressing herself and her unique body’s connection with the surrounding world through her art pieces. With these works, she held her first solo exhibition entitled "you're mine."
Interview: Choosing High Heels with Amputated Legs / Artist, Mari KATAYAMA」
Beyond the Answer -There is No “Real” Me
Another reason she was able to think herself “normal” was that she gained another option to express herself. With the “high-heel project,” the project to go out in the town wearing high heels with amputated legs, she has expanded her chance to do performing arts, such as pole dancing and singing.
She says her favorite is singing. With a heartbreaking voice, she sings foreign songs with no flaws. However, she says she has never had singing lessons.
Here again, I copied. I copied how singers sing, how they breathe, how they move her mouth, her accent. I sang all of the songs from the singer, until I got this feeling that I copied her completely. I don’t know how to pronounce foreign language “correctly,” but I know how to pronounce like the singer. However, I never got a high score in karaoke, so maybe I am not alike.
(Note: Karaoke has a scoring system, and automatically evaluates the singer based on how well the person sang.)
She says that she has no positive intentions to create either a self-portrait or objets regarding to her “original” body for now.
I copied how people dress, how people walk, how people sing. I copied everything from people. I’m a patchwork of other people, and there is no “real” me. But I accept that fact. Does that mean I became a boring adult? I don’t know, but I just want to create as my heart leads me for now.
