The title ‘Karyolysis’ refers to the biological process whereby the cell nucleus dissolves and eventually vanishes from view.

Life is inherently fluid and ultimately tends towards disappearance.

In this context, photography can be understood as temporarily fixing a vanishing existence as an image, thereby imparting meaning and order to silence.

Through the tension between visibility and disappearance, this work presents the temporal structure inherent in the act of collecting living organisms.

Makoto Oono is a Japanese photographer born in Chiba Prefecture in 1979.

He received the 2016 JAPAN PHOTO AWARD for his work SEPARATE HIDDEN RULES, a series documenting creatures collected through online sales platforms and photographed through processes of care and observation.

Based in Tokyo, Oono self-publishes photobooks while also participating in international residency projects and exhibitions.

His current project, Contrast A, explores how humans treat other species within Asian cities where chaotic civilisation and culture continue to coexist. Using improvisational set constructions and staging techniques, the work examines the changing conditions of creatures placed within environments shaped by both “irony” and “caress,” creating imagery that is simultaneously beautiful and unsettling.

Recent awards include the Getxo Photo Open Call Shortlist 2025 (Spain), LensCulture Emerging Talent Awards Winner 2024
(Netherlands), PhMuseum Photography Grant 2024, Main Prize Shortlist (Italy), and Phest LEICA PRIZE 2023 (Italy).