“My body can’t conform, so I resist. And I try to make that resistance as joyful as possible.” – Dan Daw
Originally coined by disability rights activist Stella Young, inspiration porn describes narratives – by non-disabled and disabled people alike – that objectify disabled people for the benefit (i.e. comparative comfort and/or inspiration) of non-disabled people. For example, if the message behind a paralympics commercial implies “Wow, if they (a disabled person) can do that, I (a non-disabled person) can do anything,” then that message is inspiration porn.
A lot of art sadly falls into the bin of inspiration porn. Which is not surprising, because we live in a deeply ableist world and often don’t know how to consume narratives about disabled people beyond that dispiritingly limited lens. Which is also not surprising because art made by disabled artists has generally not been given main stages or been mindfully programmed within artistic seasons.
This year, the Edinburgh International Festival had different plans.
The very first production they decided they’d open their season with was The Dan Daw Show, Australian artist Dan Daw’s latest piece exploring the intersection of disability, queerness, and kink.
Directed by Mark Maughan and joined onstage by his collaborator Christopher Owen, Daw takes us on an intimate corporeal journey. We witness him generate and take up loads of sexually charged space – a context onto which we don’t often layer disability. But further to that, witnessing Daw consensually take on a sexually submissive role added a whole new layer, ingeniously flipping the inspiration porn script on its head before it could wrest control of the narrative. As if to smack this anti-inspiration porn message home from the very top of the show, Daw introduces us to Christopher with wicked glint in his eye, saying, “He’s here to help you all understand why I made a show about me wanting to get fucked, in a society that is predicated on fucking the disabled, without losing my power”.
Lacing it all through with an explicit, tender, and sexy practice of consent, Daw not only allows his audience to witness his body be dominated but also to witness the sense of freedom and radical self-acceptance that live for him in this specific space.
Watching Daw enjoy being dominated – his physical freedom consensually and pleasurably taken away from him – is like watching a cliff fall into the sea. It’s uncomfortable yet thrilling, private yet epically public. Power and empowerment and all the assumptions one has of them crack and crumble away into an ocean of universal truth. What you’re left with is a cool wind of freedom on your face and a deep gratitude for the privilege of watching an artist redefine what it means to live honestly. If anyone is reclaiming narratives, it’s Daw and the brilliant team behind this boundary-breaking show.
The Dan Daw Show was a part of the 2025 Edinburgh International Festival. Get tickets to Daw’s next show at the Battersea Arts Centre here: http://www.dandawcreative.com/productions/exxy