Maki Kawakita's visual world results from a very personal modus operandi: She meticulously takes diverse approaches, ranging from modern to traditional influences and Western to Eastern cultures, and transforms them into something unique, all the while allowing the hyper-real world of her native land, Japan, to predominate. Kawakita has been featured in Time and Marie Claire, shot advertising campaigns for Coors Light, Olympus, BNP Paribas, Levi Strauss & Co., and Smirnoff, and photographed celebrities such as Alicia Keys, Paris Hilton, Missy Elliott, Beyonc?, and nationally syndicated columnist Arianna Huffington.
A 2002 graduate of the MFA program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, Kawakita was recently selected in 2007 by Commercial Photography as one of the best 100 Photographers of Japan, was awarded the 2003 Advertising Photography Award, and was a selected photographer for American Photo in its April/May 2002 issue of Spot Light Photographer.
