Interview: At Three A.M Something Just Goes âPing!â and Other Experiences of Making With the Body as Material
Photograph: Mari Katayama
The full-length windows in the Stenn Gallery usually allow you to see everything from the outside. Passersby can gaze through the wall to ceiling windows and observe most of whatâs inside. Featured artist Mari Katayamaâs exhibit, however, creates walls out of most of these windows, and allows only glimpses of her exhibit to be discerned. I sat down with Katayama and UMMAâs Curator of Asian Art Natsu Oyobe.Â
As we spoke, and Natsu Oyobe generously translated, a group of students formed outside, admiring what they could see of Katayamaâs featured works through the front window. They were catching glimpses of what looks like a hammock filled with pillows. Had the students ventured in, they couldâve seen photos that range from frothy to surreal. In one, Katayama stands on a bridge, her own subject, sporting what looks like a long second limb that runs from her shoulder to the asphalt. Another photo looks like she has sprouted several limbs...until you see the seams on each extra arm.
Photograph: Mari Katayama
Due to trials tibial hemimelia, Katayama had part of each of her legs removed at the age of nine. She was also born with two fingers on her left hand. She often uses her body as the subject for her art. Katayamaâs sewing and photography skills combined create photographs characterized by âsoft sculpturesâ of hand-sewn pseudo-limbs. Her more recent photos, which are also featured in the Stern Gallery, are more abstract. Going into the interview, I was interested in investigating this difference.Â
Sam: I love everything that youâve done here, the combination of photos and sculpture work. You talk a lot about the concept of self image, especially surrounding the issue of disability. What got you to the point that you felt so comfortable sharing your experiences in your art and outside of it?
Oyobe: (translating for Katayama): Itâs a very complex process to get to exposing her body this way.Â
She treats her body as material, so she has a certain distance already.Â
When other people look at this work, and notice her body, she realizes oh, I have this body, so really for her, her body is like one of the materials.
There are two episodes [that got her to this point]. One episode was when she was growing up, still a little child, she looked at herself as the same as everyone until she looked in the mirror and [remembered] she has a different kind of body. Thatâs when she started thinking of body image. So she tried to behave the same as everyone else. Although she wears prosthetics, she tried to walk like other people, or she tried to hide her left hand with just two fingers so no one could see. As she began to be in the larger world outside of home or school, there are things she couldnât really do [the same way as] ânormalâ people. If there is a 14-story high building, she canât go up the stairs, she might fall, just a little bump, you know.Â
Then she realizes that sheâs different, and that her body is different. But she also feels that where she stands as a person in society, that sheâs disabled, just like being a mother, or anything else.
Photograph: Mari Katayama
Sam: So speaking on your art, especially the photos where you get really up close to elements of your body like your back, considering what your previous works look like, what made you choose this new perspective?
Oyobe: These are earlier works. [Oyobe gestures to the first wall.] She posed her body as material, and arranged it in a different way, trying to be as straight as possible with her body. When she was working this way with a little bit of distance, she didn't think her body was very interesting. At the same time, she thought her body was convenient. Because she doesnât have legs, she can [put herself] inside these soft sculptures that she makes that she can wear. If you have two legs and you're standing, there is already a weight there, so you canât really play with that. But with her body, she can play around.
Works featured in UMMAâs Stenn Gallery. Come check it out for a close look! Photographs: Mari Katayama
Oyobe: She took these pictures after she gave birth to her daughter. She was surprised [at her daughterâs behavior about her legs]. She seemed to think, âthese are my dadâs feet,â but also âthose are my momâs feet.â That was a very fresh surprise. [Mari] didnât think that way, because she thought her feet were not normal. But for her daughter, she recognizes them as legs. Because of that discovery through her daughterâs eyes, she looked closely at her own body in a very different way.Â
Sam: I want to talk a little bit about your older works as well, especially your sewing projects. Most of your materials are created by hand. It takes such a long time to create something--you can spend hours on [a project] and it will be really small. I wanted to know if the process is difficult for you, if itâs soothing or calming. Do you like that it takes such a long time to create the things that you put in your photos?
Oyobe: There are two reasons that she took on sewing as part of her artwork. When she was growing up, both her mother and her grandmother sewed clothes. Before she started even drawing, she started sewing. She never went to school for it, but because she grew up in thatÂ
environment, itâs really soothing for her.Â
She thinks that with needle, thread, and fabric, you can do anything.Â
Itâs the most powerful tool that she has. For example, if you use glue to put fabric together, it takes time, you have to wait. With needle and thread you can put fabrics together very easily, and if you stuff them with cotton, you can make a sculpture very easily too. The only weak point is that fabrics can burn, catch fire, and also that they're not good with water.
Sam: So donât spill tea on it, and donât put a candle near it.
Photograph: Matri Katayama
Sam: Iâd like to ask about the arrangements of your pieces, because you make all these [sewing projects], and then you place them very carefully. Many of your images, especially your older pieces, seem to have a âmore is moreâ mentality. At the same time, your scenes don't feel very cluttered or chaotic, because everything is so carefully chosen. How do you choose what goes into your photos, and what goes out?
âShe has no plan, nothing!â
Oyobe:  [Mari] doesn't believe in any spiritual process. When she begins taking photos, something comes to her mind in that moment. [The first part of] her process is to create these soft sculptures. Sometimes when she has a hard time and no inspiration comes around, she just keeps sewing straight lines. Then she goes to sleep, and at three am something just goes ping! and she seizes the moment, she just starts making art. These 3 dimensional objects come first. Once they're there, she starts placing them, composing them in a different way. Usually she grows the composition to fit them. [As for the photography process], with a digital camera you can check the placement. So she tries taking different poses, and then she changes [them].
Sam: It sounds like a pretty complicated process--you spend a lot of time preparing and during the moment you just think, letâs do whatever we want.
Works featured in UMMAâs Stenn Gallery. Come check it out for a close look! Photographs: Mari Katayama
Sam: My final question is about your sculpture. This is the first thing I noticed when I came in, and it's a lot different from your earlier works. Could you explain this piece a little bit, maybe your motivations, what it means to you?
Oyobe: So this was created when she took those photos [the outdoor scenes], and it was just a net, without the stockings. When she created this piece and this net, it was on an island. There was a garbage disposal [on the island] where they burned all this garbage in a nearby facility. There was this issue of pollution in the water because of that. So she was thinking that [in theory] these nets would remove all the debris out of the water. Itâs true that they are not tight nets--you can't really catch anything in them.Â
Using these nets and trying to remove the garbage, that kind of action isn't really meaningful. She really thinks that is true to Japanese culture: trying to fake it, as if doing something [meaningful].
Sam: So more of a ritual than trying to [take action].
Oyobe: Then she returned to her hometown. In her hometown there's this river with a coppermine upstream. When she first visited the area of the copper mine, before she got pregnant, she felt so close to that pollution issue. You can't really solve these environmental issues, so sheâs not sure what to do with that. The title for this piece is âliving well is the best revengeâ.Â
Oyobe: In this work, these cushions relate to the lives of people, and these hanging objects in the stockings refer to peopleâs consumption. This is the first time she showed this piece after she gave birth and she created these pieces.Â
With her daughter's birth, she feels more close to everyday life. When she first created this piece, she felt distant, but [after the birth of her daughter] now she feels much closer.Â
Works featured in UMMAâs Stenn Gallery. Come check it out for a close look! Photographs: Mari Katayama
You can see Mari Katayamaâs exhibit in UMMAâs Stenn Gallery until January 26, 2020. You can also listen to the full interview below.
Edited by: Madison Murdoch