Approximately 30 participants were invited to hug me through a silicone barrier, the hug machine. Unbeknownst to the participants, the gloves that touched my back had sharp studs in them that pricked and irritated my skin. After hugging, the participants had to sit and (silently) watched the marks from other huggers build up.

The spiked gloves are modeled on vampire gloves—BDSM gear used to play with sensation and pain—which “mirror the deadly games that a culture dishonest with itself plays.” A challenge about consent; a questioning of what harm is or isn’t; and a consideration of the specific oppression children face.