Sculpting Body Ideals

Abstract

British citizen Alison Lapper was thrust into fame when her 11.5 foot tall, 13 ton sculptural portrait likeness, Alison Lapper Pregnant, was unveiled on the fourth plinth of Trafalgar Square in 2006, where it reigned for eighteen months (Figure 2.1). Lapper agreed to being cast in the nude by British artist Marc Quinn when she was seven months pregnant and to be placed on public display; many have called the project collaborative. The controversial sculpture has brought widespread attention to the model’s body and her life story. Lapper, born without arms and with shortened legs, is an alumnus of British institutions for disabled children and programs for disabled artists, now a single mother, and an artist who makes work about her body and embodied experiences as a disabled woman. Carved from precious Italian marble and placed on a pedestal among statues of British naval captains, Lapper has been called a contemporary heroine of cultural diversity. Deemed by some as “brave and bold” and “pregnant and proud” and by others as a tasteless and overtly political publicity stunt for Quinn, the work makes a public statement about disability and Lapper’s right to be seen as a productive social subject and a reproductive sexual being.KeywordsDisable PeopleDisable WomanCarrara MarbleVisual MediationDisable BodyThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.