Born in Suita City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, in 1980.
Mariko Matsushita began writing numerous poems as her first form of expression in early childhood, to
cope with and comprehend sexual violence.
Seeking inner exploration, and expression without relying on words, she decided to become an
artist.
In 2004, she graduated with a degree in oil painting from the Kyoto City University of
Arts.
While working at a factory, she resumed painting. Her body of work
including Margarita 7 won the Grand Prix at the 2nd CAFFA 2016 (Contemporary Art Foundation Artist Award).
The next year, during the residency at the Delfina Foundation in London, she interacted with artists
from India, Peru, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and so forth. She later visited Auschwitz and the Red House in the Philippines among others, where she produced paintings.
In 2020, she publicized In the Honest Word of Love, inspired by Svetlana Alexievich, and in
2021, The Human Voice, including Friday, named after J.M. Coetzee’s book, making an important turning point.
In 2022, she independently organized a two-person exhibition, "Life,"
with Amapola Prada (lives and works in Lima, Peru). She was in the occupied Palestinian West Bank from July to August 2023.