Sawako Kabuki's animation work dives headfirst into the messy, leaky, and unapologetically bodily. From butts to bodily fluids, her films have earned top honors at Annecy, SXSW, and Ottawa. Her characters share a soft, human quality that makes the shockingly frank subject matter oddly endearing. Kabuki doesn't seek to provoke; she simply follows her obsessions, and the results are visually compelling and disarmingly…

Working mostly alone, Kabuki crafts animations that aim to create the kind of childhood obsessions that stick with you for life. Her solo shows, like Butt Therapy and Everything Leaks, embrace the unruly without apology. Drawing from her past as a live-action assistant director, she found her true voice in animation. The imagery is vivid, colorful, and filled with a sense of playful transgression that feels both fre…