Maki Ueno was born in Japan. She studied comparative literature in Japan before moving to the United States to study cinema, focusing on cinema theory and filmmaking at University of Hartford. Ms, Ueno moved to New York City to study photography at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in 2007. She received the Director‘s Fellowship from ICP and was a Student Fine Art Finalist at the New York Photo Festival in 2008. Recently, she received a grant from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund and she has exhibited work at Camera Club of New York and the Fashion Center Juried Art Exhibition.