A sculpture made to illustrate what humans would need to look like in order to survive a car crash is not particularly handsome, but Victoria's Transport Accident Commission just outside of Melbourne, Australia, is hoping it educates people on road safety.
9News reported the commission's chief executive Joe Calafiore said Graham is meant to spark debates.
“It’s about human vulnerability. Everything we do in road safety, at our core, is thinking, 'How do we protect the human being?' We’ve decided to display that in a very different way," Calafiore said. "People can survive running at full pace into a wall but when you’re talking about collisions involving vehicles, the speeds are faster, the forces are greater and the chances of survival are much slimmer."
“We’re really looking forward to the debate we will spark in the community," he said.
Graham was designed by artist Patricia Piccinini and is made of human hair, resin, fiberglass and silicone. It cost nearly $150,000 and 10 months to make.
ABC reported it has a large thick skull with no neck and sacks of air on its chest to mirror car airbags. The design builds on real-life injuries commonly suffered in car crashes, such as neck injuries, ligament dislocations and spinal fractures.
"I really listened and internalized the science of it and then I approached it in a creative way on an emotional level," Piccinini said.
Graham is currently on display at the State Library of Victoria until Aug. 8. Afterward, the sculpture will be touring local schools to educate children on road safety.
"Cars have evolved a lot faster than humans and Graham helps us understand why we need to improve every aspect of our roads system to protect ourselves from our own mistakes," Calafiore said in an online video.
Take a look at Graham in the video from TACVictoria below:
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