Born with only two fingers on her left hand and tibial hemimelia, a rare deficiency in which one leg bone is absent, both of Mari Katayama’s legs were amputated at the age of nine. She transcends her differences, however, and extends body positivity in works she creates with her prosthetics, which become intricately embroidered objects, as well as self-portrait photography, using her own body as a living sculpture.

In her latest exhibition, Broken Heart, at white rainbow in London, Katayama presents evocative, self-portraits and embroidered textile sculptures,  objectifying her own physical condition by constructing an alternative narrative around the image of the stigmatized body. Using her body as the site where representations of difference and identity are inscribed, Katayama explores the tensions between lived physical experiences and the cultural meanings inscribed on the female body. Exposing the challenges designated  to her physicality and identity, she forcefully pulls the viewer into staged scenes or events, where fixed historical, social, and cultural norms are revealed as false idols to be challenged and redefined.

Katayama's first book, Gift, is published by United Vagabonds.