The art world has honored many scientists and references in the STEM world, however, it has not done the same with its female counterparts. Furthermore, particularly in the US, of the 5,000 public statues depicting historical figures, fewer than 400 would represent women.
With these aspects in mind the multidisciplinary artist Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya did an investigation to discover that only 7% of these statues were dedicated to female figures and she thought she had to do something about it. She decided to go one step further and honor those women whose contributions have been decisive in areas such as science and technology. For this reason, he used the 3D Maya design software to create 20 images of professionals who had forever marked the STEM field.
“It just didn’t seem enough to me to make a visually appealing image that was flat . I wanted to do something more tangible, ”says Amanda. “It is just another contribution for these women to take the space they deserve. I wanted to give life to these women, to their work and the way in which they had impacted the world ”, he added.
The statues stand out for their white hue, as if they were classic sculptures, they are 17 inches high and among them you can recognize characters such as Ada Lovelace, Helen Rodríguez Trías or Tu Youyou.
To convert the images into busts, 3D printing was used. Phingbodhipakkiya relied on a Houston company to bring its digital designs to fruition. From the original idea to its production, the process would have taken about eight months, including a post-production phase in which the sanding and painting of the statues would have been carried out. Each bust would have required two full days to ‘print’.
The busts can be seen in person at the Marjore Barrick Museum of Art, located in Las Vegas, as part of an exhibition by the artist called Connective Tissue. Each of them has an associated QR code that visitors can scan to read a short biography of each woman. Although the artist is not a fan of these codes, she recognizes that it is a good way to communicate who these figures were to the public and how they influenced.
Other projects of the artist
Amanda is also the promoter of ATOMIC by Design, a fashion and community line for girls and women who have “no qualms about wearing their intelligence on their sleeves”. The line is inspired by the 118 elements of the periodic table and for the creator it is a way of expressing her love for the STEM world.
In addition, Phingbodhipakkiya has also launched another design project called ‘Beyond Curie’, in which, in a very visual way, it celebrates the history of women who have been leaders in fields such as science and technology. As explained on the project’s official website, “Each of the women featured in Beyond Curie has overcome incredible obstacles and faced countless challenges over the decades in the pursuit of knowledge, understanding, and impact. We owe them our respect.” .
