Baby Barbara
Barbara was my second project for my masters degree, she is a silicone baby, representing phocomelia and a cleft lip due to Thalidomide exposure in the womb. (Thalidomide, distributed worldwide as a treatment for nausea in pregnancy between the late 50’s and early 60’s, was deemed safe for pregnant people without adequate lab testing, resulting in fatal and life altering birth defects in thousands of babies, many still living with the affects today) Inspired by millennium effects’ work on Call the Midwife, where they created baby Susan, one of few, if not the only representation of a child affected by thalidomide in television and film. "Truthful historical inquiry is crucial to our human ability to learn from the periods of atrocity and evil in the past, and to do better in the future." -Daniel Little
The project involved sculpting with a mix of monster clay and chavant, making a fibreglass mould, casting with silicone, making 2 different umbilical cords that magnetically connected to the tummy and creating a 3D printed core, fitted with a silicone airbladder, which pushes a 3d printed rib cage in and out under the skin to replicate breathing.
Video of breathing mechanism : https://youtu.be/CeWn4cg6llk?si=CTM-pnAjDWTfv0I-
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