Mao Ishikawa (b.1953, Ogimi Village, Okinawa Prefecture) began her photography career in the 1970s, studying under Shōmei Tōmatsu at the WORKSHOP School of Photography in 1974. Based in Okinawa, she focuses on the island's people and social realities.
She received the Sagamihara Photography Award in 2011 for "FENCES, OKINAWA," and in 2019, the Photographic Society of Japan Photography Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2024, she was honored with the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award, as well as the Ken Domon Award and the Higashikawa Award.
Ishikawa is also featured in I’m So Happy You are Here: Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to Now, an Aperture publication and traveling exhibition organized by Lesley A. Martin, Takeuchi Mariko, and Pauline Vermare. Showcasing the work of over two dozen artists across generations, I'm So Happy You are Here offers a critical reappraisal of Japanese photographic history through the lens of women, highlighting perspectives long overlooked in dominant narratives of the medium. Following its debut at the Rencontres d’Arles in Arles (2024), the exhibition travelled to several venues, including Fotomuseum Den Haag in The Hague (2025) and FFF Frankfurt in Frankfurt (2025). It is scheduled to be presented next at The Photographers’ Gallery in London (2026), Hikarie Hall in Tokyo (2026), and International Center of Photography in New York (2026).
Her solo exhibitions have included the Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum (2021), the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery (2023), KYOTOGRAPHIE (2025), and the Warwick Arts Centre (2025). Ishikawa has also participated in significant international exhibitions such as the Yokohama Triennale (2020), the Busan Biennale (2024), the São Paulo Biennial (2025), and the Whitney Biennial (2026).
Ishikawa’s works are included in the public collections of institutions such as the Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Museum, the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, the Yokohama Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the United States.