The world’s first bionic artist Viktoria Modesta transcends the human body.

A child of the USSR, after 15 failed procedures to correct a dislocated leg and hip (which she’d suffered since birth) she decided at the age of 20 to undergo voluntary surgery to amputate her leg below the knee.

In many ways, the operation was not just the end of frustrating limitations but a catalyst for her creative journey. After the transformation, she embarked on projects that shaped her work and identity; with the aid of designers and advanced prosthetics Modesta turned her disability into a personal symbol, challenging society’s modern perception of physical beauty. Her talks explore modern identity via avant-garde visuals, technology and science.

By seeing her augmented body not as a disempowered artefact, but a tool for creating identity, she challenges our perception of what makes us human. She sees her prosthesis as a strength and potential, not as a weakness. Her short film, Prototype, a collaboration with UK’s Channel 4 took the world by storm by generating over 45 million views worldwide. It created a sea change in our perceptions of disability and where the body start… and ends.

Modesta has appeared in countless media outlets, from iD, The New York Times, Wonderland, The Times UK, The Independent UK, Wired, The Guardian, Futurism, The L.A Times and many many more. She is currently guest artist at Crazy Horse in Paris and a Directors Fellow at MIT’s Future Lab.

Meet this Tech Evangelist and latest Snap Spectacles Ambassador Viktoria Modesta