Viktoria

Project

Viktoria Modesta

AltLimbPro started collaborating with Viktoria Modesta in 2011 when we were looking for a strong, bold and glamorous person to showcase examples of alternative limbs. Viktoria was all that and more. A singer/songwriter and performing artist, Viktoria had a voluntary below-the-knee leg amputation to health issues she’d had since birth and was someone who fully embraced the idea of the body as a canvas for personal expression.

I had to transcend my physical body when I had my elected amputation a while back, it really forced me face to face with the invisible obsession that we have with every bit of our skin and the idea that our natural biology is superior, and that process sort broke me free from being imprisoned in the skin-suit so to speak and view the body as an opportunity to express yourself, to redesign, and have fun with it.”

This was the start of a very fruitful and exciting creative time, pushing one another with daring designs and concepts, collaborating with experts in their field and earning high-profile commissions from the Paralympics, Channel 4 and Rolls Royce.

It was really fascinating watching people’s reactions because most of them were speechless. Some had never stood next to a person with a prosthetic limb and the ideas they might have of what an amputee might look or act like is, in most cases, negative. So when they do clock my appearance and then see the leg, it is very challenging for them.  Most importantly when the limb is attached and I’m walking with it in my full composure it has a power that is beyond something that can be described.”

This idea for this piece came to Viktoria in a dream as the ultimate in power dressing.

It was commissioned for Viktoria’s ‘Prototype’ music video as part of Channel 4’s Born Risky campaign.

See Video

Expandable hard foam / black lacquer

 

Fibreglass and steel with high gloss Lacquered finish

Designed by Sophie de Oliveira Barata and Viktoria Modesta

Constructed by Sophie de Oliveira Barata and Ability Matters Clinic. Finished by Kaos Art

Photography by Ewelina Stechnij and Lukasz Suchorab.

Commissioned for the Paralympics 2012 closing ceremony, the leg was designed to look luxurious, dazzling, striking and dangerous.

 

Made with silicone, hundreds of rhinestones, Swarovski crystals and shards of plastic.

Designed by Sophie de Oliveira with direction from Viktoria Modesta

Base constructed and fitted by Tom Wickerson

Dressed and finished by Sophie de Oliveira

Fitted at Queen Mary’s Hospital

Photography by Nadav Kander and Omkaar Kotedia

Commissioned for Viktoria’s ‘Prototype‘ music video as part of Channel 4’s Born Risky campaign, the leg gives the impression of seeing through to the bone with lights flashing inside. Running off batteries, the leg needed to emit sufficient light to illuminate the room.

LEDS were housed in a hollow bone, constructed from fibreglass and silicone, finished in chrome lacquer. The casing was vac-formed plastic in the shape of Viktoria’s leg.

cast resin | silicone | plastic | LEDS | chrome lacquer

 

Concept by film director Sam Faramund and Viktoria Modesta

Design and production by Sophie de Oliveira Barata

Construction by Sophie de Oliveira Barata, Kaos Art, Natalie Ellner

Electronics by Doug McCarthy

Fitted at Ability Matters Clinic

Photography by Ewelina Stechnij and Lukasz Suchorab.





Glamorous bionic mash-up with stereo as concept piece

Found stereo, cast engine parts in resin decorated with rhinestones, studs, chains and jewels and crystals

Designed, dressed and finished by Sophie de Oliveira Barata

Base structure and fitting at ProActive prosthetics

Photographed by Rosemary Williams and John Enoch

Playing with negative space, this leg consists of a brass silhouette caging a retro-futuristic construction, complete with realistic foot to trick the mind.

fibreglass / wood / brass / leather / silicone / beads / chain / rhinestones

Conceived designed and constructed by Sophie de Oliveira Barata

Brass cage by James Williamson

Base structure and fitting by Proactive Prosthetics

Photographed by Nadav Kander and Omkaar Kotedia

Commissioned for Rolls Royce, this is the first ever recorded wearable jacob’s ladder. Influenced by elements of the Black Badge car, wearing this leg Viktoria embodies the machine. 

The leg features a mini tesla coil in the shoe which activates a ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ effect. When turned on, a rotating switch selects a specific spark gap and creates a high voltage. The electrons from the grounded copper strip are attracted to the higher voltage on the opposite side, creating a bright spark as they jump across. As the rotary switch turns it energizes the spark gaps sequentially allowing the spark to ascend and descend.

Conceived by Viktoria Modesta
Leg tech designed by Anouk Wipprecht and Joe diPrima
Produced and constructed by Sophie de Oliveira Barata with GTR
Finished by Funky Dipz
Limb fitting by Alex Freire
Shoes by Unitednude
BEHIND THE SCENES