Naomi Tao

Naomi (Lang Tao) Tao is a master’s student in LAIC at Columbia University. Her academic interests bridge gender studies, decolonial thought, and visual culture, focusing on how aesthetics and body politics intersect within ecofemenism in Latin America.

Her research explores how contemporary feminist thinkers and artists in the Global South challenge Western epistemologies of visibility and beauty. Through this lens, she examines how the female and trans body become sites of both resistance and redefinition—particularly through the aesthetics of corporeality that de-emphasize conventional sexualization in favor of a more holistic representation of health, autonomy, and sensuality.

Naomi’s research philosophy is deeply informed by ecofeminist and posthumanist theories. Aiming to explore and discuss the relationship between humanity and nature, and to advocate for an alternative lifestyle through a fresh perspective.

She created a multimedia web platform that provided a unique promotional avenue for “las arpilleras,” a form of handmade art originating from Chile's Pinochet dictatorship era, and sought to secure fairer income sources for Chilean women. She also served as a language instructor at The Heartfelt Tidbits, a nonprofit organization in Ohio during the year of 2023, providing hands-on assistance to vulnerable populations in need. This included essential skills such as language learning, job readiness preparation, and education on immigration history.

She believes scholars wield the incalculable force that can shift the world. This force had once transformed her, and it was also the driving force behind her learning.