Mori Art Award 2026 Grand Prize Exhibition: Katayama Mari

Preview: written before the show opened

In the tree of life photographs, Katayama Mari poses with a hand-stitched tube three metres by twenty, sprouting several limbs, the largest soft sculpture she had made. The V&A in London, which commissioned the series and now holds it, says the reflections that warp her figure turn it into shapes like maps, rivers, blood vessels and roots.

Katayama, born in 1987 and based in Gunma, builds self-portraits around objects she sews by hand and shoots on film. This show is the prize for the first Mori Art Award Grand Prize, chosen by a jury of museum directors that included former heads of MoMA and Tate Modern. It centres on an installation including the series.

You don't need a separate ticket: entry comes with Mariko Mori: All That Shines, ¥2,800 on weekdays and ¥3,000 at weekends, in timed slots. It's open until 22:00 except Tuesdays (17:00), and on 31 October it stays open until 6am for Roppongi Art Night. Photos are allowed without flash.