Madoka Okuda left Japan as a teenager and has lived most of her adult life in the United States. Currently based in New York City, she spent 15 years as a Japanese localization editor in the fashion industry before turning to photography as a self-taught artist. Her work is rooted in self-portraiture. She uses the body, domestic interiors, objects, and gestures to examine how a woman constructs and inhabits her own image. Exploring female interiority through sensations and memories held in the body, sexuality remains at its core.
In 2026, she exhibited in group shows including at Kominek Gallery in Berlin and Hungry Eye Fair in Rotterdam. Her first photobook, Plumetis, was longlisted for the Ephemere Photobook Grant in Tokyo and shortlisted for the Athens Photo Festival Dummy Award. She was also shortlisted for the PhotoWork Foundation Junior Fellowship. Her work has appeared in Fisheye Magazine, Zone Magazine, and Kominek Editions I.
Email: madokaokudastudio@gmail.com
Instagram: @madoka_o.m
Awards, Grants & Fellowships
2026 Shortlisted, PhotoWork Foundation Junior Fellowship, New York, USA
2026 Longlisted, Ephemere Photobook Grant, Tokyo, JP
2026 Shortlisted, APhF:26 Dummy Award, Athens, Greece
Exhibitions
2026 Group Exhibition, Kominek Editions I, Kominek Gallery, Berlin, DE
2026 Group Exhibition, FRESH EYES x Hungry Eye, Rotterdam, NL
2026 Group Exhibition, Coop Gallery, Nashville, TN, USA
2026 Group Photobook Exhibition, The Ephemere, Kyoto, JP
publications
2026 Kominek Editions I
2026 Trois Points Magazine Vol.12
2026 Fresh Eyes by Hungry Eyes Books x GUP Magazine
2025 FIGURES Photography
2025 Memory Cult Magazine, Issue 01
2024 Fisheye Magazine #66
2023 Zone Magazine Vol.3