Makoto Oono

Makoto Oono is a Japanese photographer and artist. He was born in Chiba Prefecture in 1979. Now based in Tokyo.
He graduated from the photography department of the Nihon University College of Art. After graduating, he learned that his father, who was a biologist, had died, and he began to explore ways of confronting living organisms through photography.

His first published photo books are “SEPARATE HIDDEN RULES” (Self-published 2016). This work which is based on the theme of all living things traded on the internet.
He won the JAPAN PHOTO AWARD in 2016, selected by Simon Karlstetter (Der Greif).

After that, he participated in two photo books published by the Shanghai-based creative team SAMEPAPER, “STILL LIFE” (2020) and “AMAZINE”(2018), and contributed works to magazines such as WIRED (USA), MAPS (Korea), and Elephant (UK). Until now, his exhibitions have been held at galleries and international photography festivals in Japan, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Singapore, Brazil, Italy, and elsewhere.

His current project, “CONTRAST A”, uses his own unique techniques to photograph living things in the Asian region.
For this work, he was selected the 2023 LEICA PRIZE (International Festival of Photography and Art Monopoly Italy) .
He was also selected for the 2024 PhMuseum Photography Grant Main Prize Shortlist, the 2024 LensCulture Emerging Talent Awards Winners, and the 2025 Getxo Photo Open Call Shortlist.