BUTO: The Recurring Torments of the Pugilist (2022)

BUTO seeks to capture the intensity of the human body in motion, the lithe bodies of dancers Max Cookward and Paul Scott-Bullen colliding against the dense and forceful power of boxer Andrew Downer. Playing with the shadow and the light, ghostly movements and eerie dance, BUTO delves into the feverish dreams of a tormented fighter. Inspired by the traditional Butoh of Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno, Eikoh Hosoe's iconic portraits of Mishima in Barakei, William Klein's Tokyo 1961 Butoh photographs and Shuji Terayama's Boxer, BUTO is a homage to the Japanese avant-garde.