The Alternative Limb Project: Reimagining prothesethics
Prosthetic limbs are something that change the lives of around 100 million people globally every year. Enabling a more ‘normal’ life and creating mobility in the lives of those who have been previously disadvantaged. The standard, prescribed limbs provided by the NHS, can diminish the lives of their users, leaving them being defined by the physical representation of their disability.
Sophie de Oliveria Barata and the team at the Alternative Limb Project are bridging the gap between fashion and functionality, fighting against the stigmas created against the disabled community. Based in Lewes, East Sussex the AltLimbPro are reinventing what artificial limbs can be, merging modern technology with more traditional crafts to create one of a kind, personalised prosthetic limbs for their extensive list of clientele. Creating an alternative to the prescribed, medical prosthetics and enabling people with disabilities an extension of their personality in the process.
Sophie wants to change the thought process associated with the production of prosthetics, ‘function over form’. Starting her career in special effects and gaining the necessary skills to deceive the human eye, she combined this with a short stint studying in the medical field and realised the untapped potential of what artificial extremities could be. Explaining to Porsche “my dream is to push the imagination to its limits and explore the human body in a way that it’s not genuinely been explored.”
Exploring themes of body image, AltLimbPro strives to evolve the lives of their clients, modifying their overall experiences for the better. Leaning into the escalating ideas around transhumanism, Sophie and her team offer an array of synthetic arms and legs. The main aim of any prosthetic is to provide daily mobility for the user, AltLimbPro ensures that this remains at the forefront of the design process, whilst also increasing body positivity through the adoption of avant-garde, highly stylised designs, unique to each individual.
One of the company’s more illustrious collaborations is with runway model and body confidence advocate, Kelly Knox. After being born without her lower left arm, Knox became one of the first disabled models to be featured at London Fashion Week. During her childhood, the model resented wearing prosthetic limbs, something that has remained into her adult years. Paving the way for other disabled models and disabled people more generally around the world, with her attitude towards life and consistent positive outlook. I had the opportunity to speak with Kelly about their collaboration, “The glamour of it all is exciting, the hair, make-up, clothes- but the real buzz for me, looking straight down the lens and challenging everything ever perceived about beauty and disability.”
Image source: AltLimbPro/ Kelly Knox
Kelly Knox- The Alternative Limb Project
“A re-imagining of the prosthetic arm in the form of jewellery”, Synchronised: the arm with a pulse. This iteration of the partnership consists of an elegant design, creating a gestural, dynamic addition to Knox’s body. Featuring electroplated gold carbon fibre covered in clear acrylic, the limb is a direct mirror of the opposing arm, leading to a natural finished product. Offering two hand variations in clear and blue resin. Internal electronics take a reading of her pulse which is then relayed to the wrist which ticks in time.
The most outlandish of the
designs, ‘The Vine’, is right out
of Poison Ivy’s wardrobe. Taking
inspiration from Knox’s interest
in the extra-terrestrial world, the
arm is a “botanical tentacle,
flora/fauna hybrid.” To ensure
that the wearer has precise
movement and control, 26 individual vertebrae allow for organic, subtle movements. Built-in sensors support four degrees-of-freedom, enabling movement for two simultaneous sections, allowing Knox to curve, curl and caress the appendage as she sees fit.
An arm of two halves, ‘Materialise’ encompasses Knox’s emotional and spiritual identity. The upper, more visible portion of the limb is composed of interchangeable sections relating to the wearer’s personality. Featuring a wide range of materials from steel, wood, rhodium and even gold, demanding an array of techniques to complete. The underside of the prosthetic is expertly crafted using a hyper-realistic skin-like- silicon, representing Kelly’s physical body. The creation is a “visual connection between the physical and metaphysical.”
“AltLimbPro are insane to work with, we create art, we create magic...we break barriers, we crush the status quo, go beyond realities and feed fantasies.”
The imagination of the Alternative Limb Project team is a breath of fresh air. Giving physically disabled members of society a new perception of what prosthetics can be.
Prescribed limbs have the ability to sap originality out of the wearer and leave them feeling almost clone-like, shrouded by their disability.
To check out more work from the Alternative Limb Project: https://thealternativelimbproject.com/
