Raptio is a cloak and bull’s head created by Dame Eiger, a visceral representation of sexual assault and the violence of possession. Constructed entirely from leather using a range of traditional and experimental techniques, the work channels Plato’s vision of the beast one becomes when overtaken by divine madness—a collapse of reason into raw, consuming desire.
The name Raptio comes from the Latin word for abduction, echoing the ancient Greek understanding of rape as the theft of property—an act of possession, not violation. Here, the cloak is not just a garment, but a consuming force, engulfing the wearer in heavy leather and symbolic silence.
Adorning the surface of the cloak are scattered pearls—symbols of wealth and beauty that, in this context, serve to conceal. Wealth has long been used to shield perpetrators and obscure the suffering of victims; Raptio is both shroud and armor, reflecting how power and affluence can silence the truth.
The bull’s head evokes both the mythic aggressor and the sacrificial icon. Around it, handprints stain the walls—echoes of the taken but not forgotten. These marks reference the ongoing crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, whose stories often vanish beneath systems of power and neglect. Raptio is a brutal monument to these lives and to the long legacy of violence that continues to be denied, hidden, or dismissed.
