Mariko Mori was born in Tokyo in 1967. Mori's father is an inventor and real estate tycoon, and her mother is a Historian of European Art. While studying at Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo in the late 1980s, Mori worked as a fashion model. It was at that time that she had her first exhibitions. In 1989, she moved to London to study at the Chelsea College of Art and Design and studied there until 1992.[1] After graduating, she moved to New York City and she participated in the Independent Study program at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Mariko Mori now resides in London with her family.