MELBOURNE: Meet "Graham", he is part of Australia’s latest road safety campaign and has the ideal body to survive a car crash, according to the Transport Accident Commission (TAC).
Sculptured by Melbourne artist Patricia Piccinini in conjunction with Melbourne Hospital trauma surgeon, Christian Kenfield, Graham has body parts you would need to be able to stay alive in a high speed crash.
“The head has a much bigger skull so it acts like a bicycle helmet. Graham actually has no neck, he has no cervical spine that can be fractured in a whiplash injury. These ribs are super ribs absorbing much more of the force,” said Trauma Surgeon, Christian Kenfield.
Made out of fibreglass, silicone, resin and human hair, Graham is on display at the State Library of Victoria until Aug 8 and visitors can use immersive augmented reality technology to look under Grahams skin to learn about his unique features.
“He’s not patronising, he’s not imposing, he’s open to us and the eyes are where the work is. It’s where you can really connect with him and empathise. If he was aggressive or belligerent or sort of patronising we wouldn’t be able to do that. He’s very Australian, I think,” said sculptor, Patricia Piccinini.
Graham is due to travel the state with his simple but, hopefully effective message, “You haven’t got what I’ve got and if you drive safely, you won’t need it”, the Seven Network said.
