aricoco (Ari Tabei), born and raised in Tokyo, is an interdisciplinary artist, based in NYC.
She is interested in how human communities might form and thrive without centralized leadership and power privilege. Exploring the non-hierarchical system of social insects (especially ants) and their biological altruistic characteristics within their female-dominated society, she attempts to acknowledge her paradoxical phobia for insects and challenge her own vulnerability as a human, drawing a parallel with the life of an insect. Through creating environments for habitation, sculptural garments/bags and masks that serve as her protective gear, she disguise myself as an insect, performing a ritualistic play of surrendering her “powerless” body to the habitat.