Alison Lapper Pregnant: A revisit.

I recently had to give a presentation on a controversial image backed up by a 500 word essay. Below is my offering. What are your views of the statue?

Alison Lapper Pregnant is a 12-foot statue designed by Avant-garde artist Marc Quinn. The statue was commissioned for placement in London’s historic Trafalgar Square and was unveiled in 2005.

A considerable amount of controversy was caused almost immediately; Alison Lapper is a disabled artist and was born with phocomelia a condition that has left her with no arms and severely shortened legs of just thighbone attached to her foot making it incredibly difficult to walk. After being abandoned by her Mother after her birth, Alison was in and out of care. An experience made all the more difficult by her disability, however after studying Art at University of Brighton, Alison has over come her disability to become a prominent foot and mouth artist and a loving Mother of one.

So what gives her the right to become an enormous marble statue in the middle of one of London’s most historic landmarks? Many argue, nothing.

Criticism took the form that statues in the square should be reserved for historical figures that have built our nation, to match the newly cleaned up Nelson’s Colum in the center.

This strikes me as sheer ignorance. It isn’t 1805 anymore. What with the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace and the National Gallery all a stone throw away, I think Mr. Nelson is in fairly good, celebrated company.

 It is obviously the start of new century with new cultures and new challenges and I believe that Alison Lapper is the perfect symbol of overcoming adversity in the modern world.

The statue has challenged many social taboos, showing Lapper pregnant breaks a stereotype that people do not see disabled people in a sexual way. Though the statue has not overwhelmingly changed life for disabled people it is an important piece of symbolism for the acceptance and understanding of their hardships. This was cemented at the London 2012 Paralympics Opening Ceremony where a huge reproduction of the statue was a key part of the celebration, showing that less than 10 years later, the image is more accepted and barriers have been broken for those of us considered “different”.