Madoka Takagi was born into the first postwar generation in Japan. In 1978, she achieved a Bachelor's degree from the Woman's University in Tokyo. Four subsequent years of employment with a Tokyo bank, however, increased Madoka's awareness of the constrictions placed on her by Japanese culture, and awakened in her an urge to explore her independence in America.

She arrived in New York in 1983; her first involvement with photography was in a large commercial lab where she learned the craft of black and white printing. In 1986, she was sponsored to study platinum/palladium printing at the Parson School of Design.

The platinum prints of Takagi depict empty street corners, alleyways, neighborhoods. The diffused look - a product of the platinum developing process - and the absence of people in the photos seem to displace these images into other areas. Takagi strives to depersonalize the image from any sort of social or personal commentary. In this spirit, her photos embody a quiet, straight forward presentation