exo

exo is a project that explores the fissures between disability and pain endurance, creating a series of exoskeletons that recall imagery of medical bracing and armor simultaneously. As a durational performance, exo proposed a witnessing of physical stamina and energetic exchange between two collaborators, M. Celeste and Mae Howard.

Over the course of 90 minutes, 262 needles were pierced and connected with a delicate chain to form one fluid line from Howard’s shoulders to heel cord, and back again. The chain was then pulled at the climax of the performance, to remove the needles in one flowing application of pain and precision. The piece was performed at Kink Out Incarnate in June of 2025.

exo is part of a larger body of collaborative work between Mae Howard and M. Celeste. Creating a series of sculptural, video and performance-based works, their practice explores visceral and tactile manipulations of time, space and body that can occur in an ongoing S/M dynamic.

Image and Video Documentation by Clare Worsley

M. holding down Mae’s pierced body on the massage table. M. is wearing a face mask and latex apron with latex gloves. Mae is wearing a hood and laying on their stomach.

A close up of Mae in their hood laying on the massage table with a dental lamp illuminating the front section of their back. The excess chain woven into Mae’s back from the needles hangs off the massage table.

Gloved handles pulling needles from Mae’s back with chain with a masked audience in the background. Blood drips down the side of Mae’s back onto the plastic wrapped massage table.

A white person with piercings spanning the length of their body from shoulder to heel cord laying on a massage table. The bright light of the dental lamp glows in the top central area of the image frame.