中平卓馬生於東京，遊走於攝影、藝術、電影、新聞、政治等領域，更巧妙地融合了西方的哲學理論與實踐。中平卓馬最著名的成就之一是創辦了具有開創性的雜誌《Provoke》，他們「粗劣．搖晃．失焦」風格帶給日本攝影界極大衝擊。中平卓馬被稱做「變成相機的男人」，他的攝影論至今讀來依舊前衛深刻：1960年代中平的主要論點，在於影像不是世界的表現，卻是世界的歪曲變形，他透過對影像表現的否定來否定社會與政治本身，也對將攝影視為藝術表現的當代攝影提出反論。1977年，中平卓馬遭受記憶喪失與失語的重病。 一年後他逐漸回到街道上，拍攝他沿路看到的主體：火，水，鳥類，動物，樹木，花朵，貓，流浪漢。這些圖像逐漸從黑白轉向彩色的、逐漸完全客觀，從90年代後完成他在觀念與攝影兩者間不斷迴盪、尋求挑釁問題的最終表現：攝影的本質只是一種等值的記錄－這些彩色作品可說是彩色觀念攝影的極致。中平卓馬的攝影作品被世界各地重要機構收藏。包括東京國立近代美術館、橫濱美術館、紐約現代美術館、芝加哥藝術博物館、舊金山現代美術館、休士頓美術館等。
Nakahira Takuma was one of the founding members of the groundbreaking magazine "Provoke," where he, along with other Provoke members, championed the "are, bure, boke" style, characterized by its raw, blurry, and out-of-focus aesthetic. They believed that photography was not a medium for conveying information or providing answers but rather a pursuit of genuine questions. Their iconic photography style and advocacy left a profound impact on the Japanese photography scene. Nakahira earned recognition as a thought-provoking figure in photography. In the 1960s, Nakahira believed that images do not represent the world but instead distort and warp it. He used this denial of image representation to challenge society and politics, as well as contemporary photography's perception as an art form. In 1977, Nakahira was tragically stricken with memory loss and aphasia. He returned to shooting the following year with the images he saw everyday on the street: fire, water, birds, animals, trees, flowers, cats and street people. The colored objective images are the ultimate presentation of his struggle to pursue the provocative questions disclosed in his writings and photography: the essence of photography is only an equivalent record. Nakahira’s work is collected by prestigious institutions including National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; Yokohama Museum of Art; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Art Institute of Chicago; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.