Korine explained the story behind the photographs in an interview with the The Tennessean that was published January 18, 2009:
It was when I was visiting Tokyo. I was staying in the Shibuya District. I had really gotten into eating a special kind of blowfish. I think at some point I had a reaction to the blowfish. I was staying in the hotel room for days on end. I was smoking this kind of amphetamine that was getting me excited about life. I was hanging out with these transvestite karaoke performers. We would just stay inside the hotel. I would take pictures off of these monitors that I had. At that point in my life, I had read all of these books on Pentecostal preachers and people who were building up tolerances to strychnine. I guess in that state, I had thought that I should start building up a tolerance to Clorox bleach. I'm not going to lie to you, that was a time in my life where I wasn't at my most mentally stable.The press release offered the following description:
"This exhibition will cull together a number of photographs from Korine’s private files in order to reveal a side of the artist’s creative process that remains largely unexamined. Depicting an unnamed, mysterious young girl moving through a televised landscape of shifting contexts, Pigxote further illustrates Korine’s interest in replacing plot lines and expected narrative tropes with intuitively arranged “experiential moments.” They also provide a unique insight into the poetic mind of Nashville’s most compelling prodigal son."
A companion book to the exhibition was was published by Nieves. For the release of the book, a special signed edition was sold that included an image from Pigxote with hand-drawn additions by Korine.