Mari Katayama received the inaugural grand prize at a ceremony at the Roppongi Hills Club in Tokyo on Feb. 26. This biennial award for Japan-based, mid-career artists comes with a ?10 million monetary prize and the opportunity to hold an exhibition at the Mori Art Museum. It is among the largest payouts for a single contemporary artist in Japan, surpassing the Tokyo Contemporary Art Award, which distributes ?3 million each to two artists.
The Mori Art Award was established and sponsored by the Mori Contemporary Art Foundation in 2025 to ¡°support artists in achieving greater international prominence.¡± Its selection committee stated in a press release that it chose Katayama because her work ¡°invites comparison with international peers and is expected to transcend cultural and social boundaries through the fusion of powerful imagery and a strong conceptual framework.¡±
Katayama, 39, works with analog photography and handicraft practices such as embroidery and needlework, designing and handsewing objects she attaches to her body that she then captures in self-portraits. Her creations challenge preconceptions about the human body, disability, gender, nature, beauty and fashion. She was born with tibial hemimelia, a congenital condition affecting limb development, which resulted in a cleft hand and the amputation of both her legs at age 9. On her website, she as ¡°living every day within her own body, which she uses as a living sculpture, mannequin and lens through which to reflect society.¡±
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