The Art of Cuddling Is Explored in 'Skin Hunger'

The Watermill Center will host a screening of “Skin Hunger,” a film by current Artist-in-Residence, Jamie Diamond, on Thursday, November 21, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. as part of its “Questions + Ideas” series, year-round talks that gather leaders and creative thinkers across the arts, humanities, and sciences to engage on complex and wide-ranging topics.

“Skin Hunger” is a 26-minute short film that explores the emergence of a new kind of service: the renting of people for nonsexual touch, a.k.a. cuddling. In the film, viewers meet Steven, a handsome, affable 60-year-old man who lives alone in Coney Island. He’s a film buff and, each day, he travels to Times Square for work where he is surrounded by people. But, inside, he is suffocating from loneliness and a yearning to be touched — or “skin hunger.” He contacts Ella, New York City’s leading touch practitioner, and embarks on a wild journey of discovery.

“Skin Hunger” examines the epidemic of loneliness and the service economies that have emerged in response to the growing need surrounding touch, intimacy and connection. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and years of isolation and uncertainty, there is now a massive mental health crisis and the stakes could not be higher. Touch is embedded in the social structure of our lives, yet our increasingly automated world has taken away much of the human contact upon which we’ve always relied. “Skin Hunger” spotlights the phenomenon of paying for platonic touch, and its rapidly growing community which seeks to share the mental and physical restorative benefits of touch with the rest of the world.

A post screening conversation with Jamie Diamond and Ella will explore the themes and processes behind the epidemic of loneliness.

Jamie Diamond is a performance artist, photographer and filmmaker living and working in New York. Since 2008, she has been an active professional visual artist and educator in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania, mounting national and international exhibitions. At the core of her work is the evolving nature of human connection and intimacy.

For more information visit watermillcenter.org. The Watermill Center is at 39 Watermill-Towd Road in Southampton.