How The World's First Amputee Pop Star Is Fiercely Changing The Face Of Pop Culture
Amputee model-turned-pop singer Viktoria Modesta finds herself being thrust into the limelight with her latest music video.
By Samantha Khor — 17 Dec 2014, 11:36 AM — Updated about 10 years ago
Meet Viktoria Modesta, the Latvian-born "bionic" model-turned-pop singer who is turning the entertainment industry on its head with her unique physical appearance
At first glance, Viktoria may look like any other model or entertainer reminiscent of Lady Gaga or Dita von Teese... until you realise her left leg is actually a bling-ed up prosthetic!
Viktoria underwent a below-the-knee amputation to improve her mobility and safeguard her future health in 2007 after an accident at birth left her with lasting problems in her left leg
Born in Latvia, which was then part of the USSR, Viktoria had an accident at birth that affected her left leg’s growth. By the time her family moved to England, the 12-year-old had spent years stuck in hospital. “I was like a wild animal from a little town in Latvia,” she says, laughing. “I was so curious. I went through every scene there is to go through. I was a cyberpunk, a goth, a burlesque girl – I did it all. I wanted to understand how fashion, movement and music connect.”
Aged 20, after years working alternative London club nights like Lady Luck and Jodie Harsh’s Circus, she faced up to health and mobility issues and volunteered to take a lower-leg amputation.
Despite her shortcomings, the self-styled "performance artist" started her modelling career at the age of 15 and has grown to be quite a prominent figure in the alternative subculture scene
Viktoria’s early modelling work was with alternative clothing and club brands as well as some personal projects challenging views such as her nominated nude portrait by James Stroud at The National Portrait Gallery.
She has also appeared on subculture magazine covers such as Bizarre and Skin Two, and even ook Torture Garden Clothing to Zagreb for the high fashion week "Croa Porter" show in 2008.
The bionic beauty began dabbling in singing and songwriting shortly after her operation, even combining her work in the fashion industry with her music when she performed at the Milan Fashion Week 2013
She has continuously worked on creating her sound with performances at fashion and club events all over internationally such as LOVEBOX, Harper's Bazaar (Brazil), InStyle (Russia), and Milan Fashion Week.
Her character and eccentricity attracted many legendary artists to work with her such as Ellen Von Unwerth, Bettina Rheims and Vivienne Westwood as well as work with friends like Paloma Faith’s and Peaches appearing in their music videos.
She also performed as the Snow Queen at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Paralympics alongside six warrior skaters from Dancing On Ice, wearing a Swarovski crystal-covered prosthetic leg
The key moment in Viktoria’s life and her self exploration was her performance in the Paralympics closing ceremony directed by Kim Gavin. It was broadcasted live to over a billion viewers worldwide. Viktoria's starring role as the enchanting Snow Queen wearing a Swarovski prosthetic leg & performing with the main skating cast from Dancing On Ice has fuelled her mission of establishing new ideals in the media concerning sexuality and disability.
It is no secret that Viktoria Modesta has dreams of being a pop star, but what place does an amputee have in an industry that has stubbornly stuck to its archaic beauty standards?
Instead of being limited by her amputeeism, Viktoria chooses to be empowered by it by channeling it into her artistic expression and incorporating it into her performances
Viktoria’s goal has been to integrate marginal voices into the mainstream conversation without courting sympathy or victimisation.
Speaking to Dazed, the 26-year-old artist said: “I’ve chosen my own way to do things, unapologetically, and I'm hoping people will react the same way. You don’t have to constantly run on this treadmill. You can think outside the box, move country, marry a person you never thought you would, change jobs. Do something your gut is telling you to do. The closer you can live your life to a movie script the more exciting it is.”
Drawing comparisons between amputee athletes and artists, the singer revealed that pop culture "closed its doors" on her as an amputee and alternative artist "for a long time"
"For a long time, pop culture closed its doors on me as an amputee and alternative artist. I think people have always found it hard to know what to think or feel about an amputee who wasn't trying to be an Olympian," Viktoria said. "In sports, ‘overcoming' a disability makes you a hero, but in pop there is no place for these feelings."
"I have never felt comfortable thinking of myself as disabled and this has inspired me to actively challenge old-fashioned views and create a platform in mainstream pop-culture, with other artists, where I have always known I belonged," she added.
These sentiments are echoed in her new single, "Prototype", which took over televisions all over UK during the X-Factor finale as part of a promotional piece for Channel 4's 'Born Risky' initiative
“Prototype” directed by music video aficionado Saam Farahmand, showcases Modesta, sensual and strong as she dances, stomps, and writhes to the pulsating electro-pop tune, equipped with a variety of artistic, bespoke prosthetic limbs designed by The Alternative Limb Project.
It serves to break down the stigma surrounding disabled people, but also preconceived notions of sexuality and beauty.
Channel 4 shelled out 200,000 euros for the spot in promotion of Modesta, who’s at the forefront of their ‘Born Risky’ brand campaign.
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Donning a variety of elaborately-designed prosthetics in the music video, the singer beautifully embraces her disability as she struts and dances her way through the empowering anthem
In pop star Viktoria Modesta’s amaze new music video “Prototype,” the musician sings like a dream, wears a host of couture costumes that would make Lady Gaga scream in style envy, and sports a series of fashion-forward prosthetics to go along with her fashion-forward ensembles.
She wears a prosthetic leg that lights up, another blinged out to the extreme, and a sleek black spike that serves as what has to be the most stylish prosthetic in recorded history.
