Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
How did The Alternative Limb<br />
Project come about?<br />
I had an unwavering passion<br />
for what I’d started with<br />
personalising limbs, and I<br />
realised it was fulfilling a deep<br />
artistic desire within me, as<br />
well as reflecting the unique<br />
personalities of the people who<br />
wore them.<br />
I started to look for amputee<br />
models to create with, and I<br />
found artist Viktoria Modesta,<br />
who was on the front cover of<br />
Bazaar magazine, with her leg to<br />
one side and her stump on show.<br />
In her article, she explained how<br />
she chose to have an amputation,<br />
despite being warned against it,<br />
because she had a withered limb<br />
and had encountered problems<br />
because of that. She shared that<br />
after the amputation she’d never<br />
looked back. Her boldness and<br />
beauty really spoke to me, the<br />
way in which she claimed control<br />
over her body.<br />
Viktoria and I spoke, and she<br />
expressed that she saw how a<br />
prosthetic limb could be playful<br />
and an accessory, rather than<br />
something that’s purely functional.<br />
We began to collaborate, and<br />
together we created the sensational<br />
leg she wore to dance as an<br />
Ice Maiden for the Paralympic<br />
Ceremony in 2012, covered in<br />
Swarovski crystals. She wanted<br />
to focus on being an amputee,<br />
and to make a point of having an<br />
alternative, beautiful limb.<br />
Around this time, I also worked<br />
with Priscilla Sutton on the Spare<br />
Parts exhibition, which turned<br />
pre-loved prosthetic limbs into<br />
modern works of art, Kiera Roche<br />
who is the chairperson for Limb<br />
Power, and with British swimmer<br />
and amputee Jo-Jo Cranfield. And<br />
all of that was the beginning of<br />
The Alternative Limb Project.<br />
How has your work evolved<br />
in the past 10 years since the<br />
company began?<br />
As time passed, our creations<br />
were getting more and more<br />
interest from museums and<br />
galleries. Now, by exhibiting the<br />
limbs I co-create, I’ve realised<br />
they have the ability to start<br />
and extend wider conversations<br />
around bodies, prosthetics,<br />
individual personalities, art,<br />
medicine, and science.<br />
Images (left to right) | Omkaar Kotedia, Channel 4, R. Williams, Lukasz Suchorab<br />
30 | September <strong>2021</strong> | <strong>happiful</strong>.com
Change language