Mai Naito is a Japanese photographic artist based in Brisbane. Working across photography and installation, she explores the intersections of memory, perception, and the emotional experience of nature. Her work seeks to capture how a place is felt, inviting viewers into contemplative spaces where reality and imagination converge.

Drawing on childhood wonder and imaginative ways of perceiving the world, Mai creates photographic works that encourage slower, more intuitive ways of seeing. Her practice challenges the notion of photography as merely technological or documentary, approaching it as a vessel for human presence, emotion, and memory.

Mai graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts from the Queensland College of Art and Design in 2023. Since then, she has developed an independent artistic practice through exhibitions, installations, collaborative projects, and arts in health initiatives.

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Visual Arts (Majoring in Photography)

Griffith University, Brisbane

graduated in October 2023

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2026

  • Collaborative Exhibition: To Walk in Bloom, immersive 270-degree projection installation in collaboration with composer Joshua Mayner, Colorado, USA, March

  • Group Exhibition: Neue, Woolloongabba Art gallery, Brisbane, July

2025

  • Permanent exhibition,QEII Jubilee Hospital, Brisbane, July - present (three works displayed in the Sexual Assault Unit, selected by nurses and staff for their patients’ positive impact)

  • Solo Exhibition: Ambrosial, Gold Coast University Hospital, Gold Coast, Feb-Jul (12 works, hospital entrance)

  • Solo Exhibition: Wundervei, Robina Hospital, Gold Coast, Feb-Aug (13 works, hospital corridor)

  • Permanent Exhibition, Redcliffe Hospital, Feb-Present (2 works, Day Procedure Unit, selected for well-being)

  • Petit Pieces, Aspire Gallery, Brisbane, April

2024

  • Permanent Exhibition, Queensland Children’s Hospital, Brisbane, Apr-Present (2 works, Mental Health Unit, chosen by children for positive outcomes)

  • Prize Exhibition, Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, Birmingham, UK, Sep-Oct

  • Group Exhibition: Going Cold, Vacant Assembly, Brisbane, Sep

  • Little Feature, Aspire Gallery, Brisbane, Jun

  • Group Exhibition: Reality and Its Double, Brunswick Street Gallery, Brisbane, May

  • Group Exhibition: Dreams & Nightmares, Boomer Gallery, London, UK, Jan

  • Solo Exhibition: Wundervei, QCAD Grey Street Gallery, Brisbane, Jan

2023

  • Group Exhibition: ECHO, Side Gallery, Brisbane, Dec

  • Group Exhibition: Perceptions, QCAD Pop Gallery, October

ACHIEVEMENTS

  • Head on Photo Awards, Semi-finalist, 2025

  • Lethbridge Landscape Prize, Finalist, 2025 & 2024

  • Lethbridge 20,000 Small Scale Art Award, Finalist, 2024

  • Royal Birmingham Society of Artists Prize, Finalist & Highly Commended, 2024

  • Clayton Utz Art Prize, Finalist, 2025

  • Australia’s Top Emerging Photographers, Fujifilm, Top 20 in Art Category, 2025

  • ND Awards, Honorable Mention, Fine Art: Other, 2025

  • Clip Award, Perth Centre for Photography, Semi-finalist, 2024

  • Fine Art Photography Awards, Nominee, Experimental Category, 2024

  • Neutral Density Photography Awards, 3rd Place & Bronze Star, Fine Art: Abstract, 2023

PUBLICATIONS

  • Artist Feature, Frankie Magazine, Jun 2025

WORK EXPERIENCE

  • Arts in Health Support Officer at Queensland Children’s Hospital, Feb 2026 - present

  • Fine Art Printing staff at Loupe Imaging, July 2025 - present