‘PIGSKIN’ is an immersive and butoh-inspired performance which explores sexual assault through the lens of decomposition. 

It is a plunge into the grotesque, outlandish and confronting reality of survival and intended as an unabashed perspective on systemic failings within rape culture as well as a point of community catharsis and healing.

The work questions consent, truth and survivorship, exposing the guilt, embarrassment and fear of reporting predators for crimes that go largely unpunished. 

Butoh as a stylistic form exposes grief, uncovering the stages of trauma and non-linear recovery through the stylistic lens of the stages of decomposition of a dead pig. The aesthetic and text embrace the gluttonous, complex mud we trudge through after assault.

There is a focus on the autistic experience of assault in response to alarming statistics which indicate a high level of correlation between neurodivergence and assault. Our mission in this work is to destigmatise the experiences of autistic survivors of ‘grey-zone’ assault. 

The ideal audience is survivors and allies ages 18-35. For allies, it is an opportunity to understand the complexities of invalidating or validating a grey-zone assault story, and the survivor’s grief of self.