Bio

Takeshi Tokitsu is a Tokyo-based photographer and visual artist whose work explores the invisible structures and social atmospheres that shape contemporary society in Japan. His long-term projects investigate the deeper forces at play in society—such as the mechanisms of surveillance, inequality, and exclusion embedded within mature urban environments, and the subtle ways in which pressure to conform and latent totalitarian tendencies surface in everyday life. He approaches these themes with a distinctly critical and analytical sensibility. He works across a broad range of methods, from traditional documentary practices to material-driven conceptual approaches. Through exhibitions and photobooks, he constructs multilayered visual narratives that trace the overlooked experiences of individuals pushed to the margins by urban transformation, as well as the shifting patterns of collective psychology that emerge as historical memories of war continue to fade. Recently, he has also been developing work that reflects his growing interest in the impact of AI on society and on the deeper layers of human psychology. ​Exhibitions 2025 ATMOSPHERE, PlaceM, Tokyo, Japan 2025 BEHIND THE BLUE, KYOTOGRAPHIE KG+SELECT, Kyoto, Japan 2024 BEHIND THE BLUE, Nikon Salon, Tokyo, Japan 2020 TOKYO-JISHUKU: COVID-19 SELF-RESTRAINT, TOKYO, PlaceM, Tokyo, Japan 2019 45 seconds, nagune, Tokyo, Japan 2018 CELL, Sony Imaging Gallery, Ginza, Tokyo, Japan 2013 DAYS FUKUSHIMA, Osaka Nikon Salon, Osaka, Japan 2012 DAYS FUKUSHIMA, Ginza Nikon Salon, Tokyo, Japan Publications 2025 ATMOSPHERE ( photobook, self-published ) 2024 BEHIND THE BLUE ( photobook, self-published ) 2020 TOKYO-JISHUKU: COVID-19 SELF-RESTRAINT, TOKYO ( photobook, Please Publishing ) Awards / Recognition 2025 LensCulture “Editors’ Favorite Photobooks 2025 – The Big List” – Selected ​2025 KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photography Festival, KG+SELECT – Finalist 2023 World Photo Annual – Photojournalism Category, Honorable Mention; People’s Vote Award 2021 Paris Photo Prize – Book Category, Bronze Prize 2011 Japan Magazine Photographers Association Award – Grand Prize