Tari Ito

was a Japanese performance artist, activist, and organizer based in Tokyo who presented her work in Asia, North America, and Europe. She was one of the few openly lesbian artists in Japan.

Biography Ito was born in 1951 in Tokyo, as Miwako Ito. She established and founded the Women's Art Network (WAN) in 1994 in Tokyo, which organized Women Breaking Boundaries 21, an exhibition of women artists from Japan and other parts of Asia in 2001.

Since 2010, Ito had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In 2013, Ito was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy. Despite the limited mobility caused by the degenerative neurological conditions, she continued performing during that time. By 2020, she required the use of a wheelchair.

In 2022, on the one-year anniversary of Ito's death, an exhibit about her life was held in Koganei, Tokyo.

Work In 1996, Ito performed at various venues in Japan, and as part of Womanifesto in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1997 and 1999. Ito considers the piece, in which she comes out as lesbian, as a "turning point" in her career. (2012), and (2019). and the exhibitions Womanifesto and Womanifesto II (1999), Text and Subtext (2000-2003), Women Breaking Boundaries 21 (2001), and Women In-Between (2012).