'Diversity' Torso Light

Wall-light in UV plastic.

This is my pride and joy, my favorite piece. It was made for college as the 3rd stage of a 3 part project, where the brief told us to create a light or a decorative box based on the subject of diversity. I chose to work with the human body because it's something in which we are all unique and I specifically chose the female torso as there is a constant stream of propaganda in the media of what the female shape 'should' be like.

I used a shop-dummy torso (kindly donated by the Dorothy Perkins store in Dudley) and made a plaster mould of it. I experimented with different ways of creating the female shape as a shade and ended up chosing this one, which is one sheet of plastic with strips cut into it to be reminiscent of a ribcage. This was mounted onto a separate back board with a bracket attached to hold the bulb.

I would love to make more of these in different colours when I once again have access to an oven for heating the plastic (hot air gun wont do for this) and have made a new plaster mould. I had to leave the old one behind when I moved.

Photograph: M. Doyle