Little critters have to show off their fashion too sometimes. However, they can’t show off their style if humans keep coming along and stealing their clothes. Hermit crabs in Taiwan are having their homes threatened by the over collection of seashells by humans. Fortunately, these nomadic sea-dwellers have a sympathetic defender on their side.

Meet Aki Inomata, a Tokyo native who received her MFA in Media Arts and whose breadth of work has landed her a handful of creative art awards. Inomata heard the bubbling cry of homeless hermit crabs and delved into a new project she dubbed, “Why not hand over a shelter to hermit crabs?”

Thanks to 3-D modeling technology, Inomata was able to scan shells and create dreamlike cityscapes to display on top of them. Some of the structures are heavily influenced by Japanese architecture, but others also are inspired by the bâtiments of Paris, Dutch windmills, and Manhattan skyscrapers. The structures are uniquely crafted to be adopted by hermit crabs, but they are mainly aesthetic statements.

Despite Inomata’s efforts, her hermit crabs’ partiality to her shells was short lived, as many of the crabs abandoned the plastic cities after a few days. This creative endeavor to solve these hermit crabs homeless crisis must be applauded not only for its artistic approach, but also its message. Through this project Inomata explained, “I connected my study of the hermit’s transformation to the self-adaptation of humans, whether it be in acquiring a new nationality, immigrating, or relocating.” In this way, we can all learn a thing or two from these hermit crabs about adopting new forms of ourselves.