Slipped Skin

Created through a residency with An Tobar and Mull Theatre

Funded by an Arts Council England DYCP Grant

Despite a childhood and early adulthood filled with swimming, snorkelling, and diving in seas around the world, in her twenties, writer Katie Hale developed a terror of being in water. Of putting her face under. Of being out of her depth. This fear persisted for over a decade.  

However, through gentle encouragement and guidance from her wife, she has started to overcome it – and to uncover and rediscover a sense of belonging along with this. 

Slipped Skin is a film poem exploring this sense of double belonging, through queer identity and the selkie myth. It was filmed on Calgary Beach, during a residency at An Tobar, and was funded by Arts Council England.  

Below is the film itself, alongside images from the installation at An Tobar, July-October 2023.