Aesthetics of Prosthetics
Nicola Lane
Nicola Lane’s installation explores how people
see prosthetics
both in the past and currently.
In her installation she brings together modern prosthetics
and both historical and contemporary photographs.
Nicola examines the past lives of prosthetic users
by creating a sequence of images,
Edwardian photographs from the Science Museum Collection
which have been altered on a computer, to remove the prosthetic limb.
The series of images on the opposite wall show the absent prosthetic limbs.
Nicola makes us think about how the photographer
saw these people,
how they saw themselves and how the rest of society saw these individuals.
The silicon leg covers used in the installation
are designed
to look as real as science allows.
Again Nicola is concerned about the gap between appearances
and how things really are.
These leg covers are just for appearance,
and do not function as real prosthetics.
Nicola does not believe that cosmesis,
the appearance of prosthetics
should be separated from the function of a prosthetic.
She believes that alternatives such as the Jaipur foot
are more truly inclusive for the user.
They represent function as cosmesis.
By emphasising function, comfort and ease of use,
Nicola claims that cosmesis should be about how the user
feels about their prosthetic. Not how the viewer feels looking at it.
By separating the prosthetics from the figures,
Nicola is inviting the viewer to imagine
what prosthetic they would like to wear.
© The City Gallery, Leicester and the artists: 2001
This site was built by Ju Gosling aka ju90 during an artist's residency at Oriel 31 in November 2001