Shifting Gears - A Prosthetic Tale, er Tail

Mermaid dream comes true thanks to Weta
BY MATT CALMAN

WHAT A TALE: Auckland woman, Nadya Vessey wrote to Weta Workshop in Wellington asking if they would help her realise a life long dream and make her a fully functional mermaid tail so she could swim. 

Nadya Vessey lost her legs as a child but now she swims like a mermaid.

Ms Vessey's mermaid tail was created by Wellington-based film industry wizards Weta Workshop after the Auckland woman wrote to them two years ago asking if they could make her a prosthetic tail. She was astounded when they agreed.

She lost both legs below the knee from a medical condition when she was a child and told Close Up last night her long-held dream had come true. "A prosthetic is a prosthetic, and your body has to be comfortable with it and you have to mentally make it part of yourself," she said.

Ms Vessey told a little boy: "I'm a little mermaid" when he asked what happened to her legs and the idea stuck.

Weta Workshop director Richard Taylor, more used to winning Oscars for visual effects from movies such as Lord of the Rings, was delighted to make it happen.

"She was very patient. We haven't always been able to fulfil some requests. We were engaged in it pretty quickly because it was a challenge."

Weta costumer Lee Williams, who worked on the suit between film projects with seven other staff, told Close Up she "wanted [Nadya] to be beautiful and sexy".

After seeing Ms Vessey test the tail in Kilbirnie pool then frolic in the harbour, Ms Williams was stoked. "It was absolutely amazing. It's beautiful to watch Nadya swim and to see that dream come true and to be a part of that. I feel quite blessed."

The suit was made mostly of wetsuit fabric and plastic moulds, and was covered in a digitally printed sock.
Mermaid-like scales were painted by hand.

Mr Taylor said not only did the tail have to be functional, it was important it looked realistic. "What became apparent was that she actually physically wanted to look like a mermaid."

 - The Dominion Post

HAS THE TRANSHUMAN MERMAID ARRIVED? BY GABRIEL SISTARE

Has the Transhuman Mermaid arrived?

So check this out: a woman from Auckland, New Zealand has transcended humanity and become a Mermaid!

Well, Nadya Vessey is still quite human, but the double amputee asked Peter Jackson’s Weta Workshop special effects studio to design a mermaid tail that would help her swim.

“A prosthetic is a prosthetic, and your body has to be comfortable with it. You have to mentally make it a part of yourself.” – Nadya Vessey Vessey’s flipper apparatus does not integrate with her nervous or muscular systems, but the mermaid tail does indicate a future in which animal hybridization might be very possible with certain technology.

While Vessey’s mermaid tail was very specific, and maybe the only time Weta Workshop will build an augmentation for an individual, it does herald a time when we might be able to useIcarus wings, just more durable, or gloves with palms made from a Gecko-like adhesive that will allow us to climb high and detach at will.

FUTURE IMPLICATIONS What other kinds of hybrid, mermaid tail-like technologies would you like to have? What parts of society do you think would benefit from such technology?

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