Biography

Sao Ohtake (b. 2000, Japan; based in Manhattan) is an installation artist whose practice begins with her relationships to the places she lives and the people who inhabit them. Her work examines how political tensions and divisions quietly permeate everyday life, shaping interpersonal relationships, while exploring how people seek reconnection through dialogue and empathy. She is particularly drawn to moments when individuals with differing values or positions encounter one another through nonverbal, tactile, and bodily forms of interaction rather than language. Through sculptures and installations made with soft materials and sound, she brings these fragile points of contact into spatial form. Ohtake holds a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a master's degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Her work has been exhibited at Tokyo Opera City (2022), the Detroit Institute of Arts (2024), and the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum (2025).