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.
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.
BEHIND THE SCENES












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