The show On Display draws attention to the disability of the performers and the beauty in their movement. We created a wearable sculpture to accompany the show that represents Anita Hollander.

Anita Hollander is an actress, singer, songwriter, director, and teacher who lost her leg to cancer. Anita will wear this sculpture during a 30-minute performance in a storefront in New York. The reason we made this sculpture is to show the viewer that Anita is whole and beautiful as she is and to challenge preconceived notions of disability. The idea behind our design is an abstraction of a mermaid which is inspired by one of Anita's songs, Mommy Is a Mermaid. This song is about addressing people's reactions to her disability when she is swimming with her daughter. Anita feels a strong connection to mermaids, so we knew we wanted to show this strength and beauty in our piece.

It was for these reasons that we designed the sculpture to cover up Anita’s right leg and have each of the pieces be an abstraction of a mermaid scale abstracted in all three dimensions. Each of the pieces is 3D printed out of clear resin so that the angular holes inside the piece can be seen from the outside. Each of the pieces will be sewed onto a piece of fabric with the geometry of the shape cut into it to show the negative space on her body. The finished product will be a striking visual that sends a clear message to the viewer.