Studio Tales is a content production studio run by Mariko Akimoto, based in Okinawa, Hiroshima and France.

Photographer, Designer and Curator / Founder of Studio Tales

Born in Hiroshima, Japan. Based in Paris, Okinawa and Hiroshima, she works in photography and curation. Her work spans photography, design and web production, all centred on the photograph.

She first came into contact with photography as a model during her student years. While working for a camera manufacturer, she began organizing seminars and exhibitions, mainly for women, wanting more people to pick up a camera. From 2011 she ran the Hiroshima Women’s Camera Club, which grew to 200 registered members and was featured by RCC Radio, Hiroshima TV, TSS-TV, NHK Radio and the Chugoku Shimbun, among others.

In 2018 she launched Studio Tales as a photography service. In 2019 she moved to Okinawa, where she began working seriously as a photographer. In 2020 the Hiroshima Women’s Camera Club was integrated into Studio Tales.

Having grown up with Western culture from childhood, she began collaborating with French photographers in 2023, and that year held the “Art Furoshiki” exhibition at the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris.

Her series “In Praise of the Undergrowth” was nominated for the 12th Prix Pictet (theme: Jungle). In December 2026 she curates HUMAN!, a Japan–France photo exhibition at the Former Bank of Japan Hiroshima Branch.

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