{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1789672"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1789672/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024PA9316/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024PA9316/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2024PA9316","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1789672","accessionNumber":"PH.3387-2024","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Calypso #002","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Mari Katayama is a Japanese multimedia artist based in  Tokyo. She was born in 1987 with a very rare genetic condition  called tibial hemimelia which stopped the bones in her lower  legs from fully developing, and at age nine she elected to have  her effected limbs amputated. \r\n\r\nHer work often involves staging self-portraits among these  objects, questioning the body’s relationship to the material world  and confronting conventional notions of beauty. Born with a  condition called tibial hemimelia, Katayama has worn  prosthetic limbs since she was a girl. This has made her  profoundly aware of issues such as social welfare and  public access. \r\n\r\nIn high heel project, Katayama collaborated with many  individuals and corporations to create high heel shoes  and prosthetics that would fit them. Collaborators  included a shoe designer and manufacturers of  electronically controlled prosthetic knee joints which  allow greater stability when walking in high heels. High  heels have been a source of feminist debate. Some  view them as a symbol of empowerment, others see  them as a tool of oppression. Through different  approaches including lectures at schools, Katayama  demands freedom of choice, regardless of disability, in  relation to questions of social welfare and access, as  well as choosing whether to wear high heels or not.","physicalDescription":"A photograph of a person wearing prosthetic legs and high heel shoes.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Mari Katayama","id":"AUTH396405"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"x40240"},"note":"Mari Katayama is a Japanese multimedia artist based in Tokyo. She was born in 1987 with a very rare genetic condition called tibial hemimelia which stopped the bones in her lower legs from fully developing, and at age nine she elected to have her effected limbs amputated. Her practice includes photography, performance and hand-sewn sculptures, which she wears in elaborately staged self-portraits. \r\n\r\nKatayama’s interest in photography coincided with the emergence of Myspace, an early blogging website and form of social media. She and her sister would take and share pictures of themselves on the platform, creating a safe virtual world where Katayama could present a public version of herself separate from the disability which had dictated much of her life. ‘Online, no one knew I had prosthetics. They were just looking at my art and judging me through that.’ Myspace became a vital outlet for Katayama, and is where she first melded her diverging and intersecting interests in fashion, staged photography and Japanese contemporary art. Over time, her sets and props became more elaborate, and she placed her disability in centre frame to raise vital questions about beauty and its standards, ableism, obsession and the body.\r\n"}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"photographic paper","id":"AAT14190"}],"techniques":[{"text":"C-type process","id":"THES258425"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Woman Artist","id":"THES387590"},{"text":"Disability","id":"THES268732"},{"text":"Performance art","id":"THES48914"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"DOP","id":"THES291628"},"images":["2024PA9316"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLF","id":"THES49656"},"free":"","case":"DR","shelf":"15","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photographs","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"2022","earliest":"2022-01-01","latest":"2022-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Gift of the artist","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This photograph was included in the 2023 exhibition 'Acts of Resistance: Photography, Feminisms and the Art of Protest', produced by the V&A Parasol Foundation Women in Photography project and the South London Gallery. ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Photograph by Mari Katayama, 'Calypso #002’, 2022, C-print, 630 x 430mm.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["PH.3387-2024"],"accessionNumberNum":"3387","accessionNumberPrefix":"PH","accessionYear":2024,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-11-21","recordCreationDate":"2024-10-28","availableToBook":false}}