'Graham' is the interactive face of road trauma - and it's not pretty
Though staying safe on the road is a universal concern, it took a distinct contemporary artist from Australia to bring the issue to life so literally.
Meet Graham. He's a little different. With a bulbous head, gnarly feet and many 'a nipple, he's a visual representation of what humans would look like if they had evolved to withstand car crashes.
So who's to blame for the aberration that is Graham? Along with acclaimed artist Patricia Piccinini (the inventor of the infamous Sky Whale), a leading trauma surgeon and a car crash investigator worked on the project, commissioned by the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) as part of their Toward Zero road safety campaign.
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Your boy Graham is not only viscerally lifelike, he's been designed to be interactive. A first of his kind in Australia, he'll teach people about human vulnerability via Google Tango — cutting edge augmented reality technology that will allow Victorians to "look beneath Graham's skin" to understand his unique and not at all creepy physical makeup.
"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," said TAC's chief executive officer Joe Calafiore in an online statement.
"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," he said. A sobering thought. But not as sobering as viewing Graham in 360°.
He might be a little fugly, but bless him for reminding us to drive safely.
Victorians can visit Graham in the fleshy flesh at the State Library of Victoria until August 8.
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Topics Cars
Jerico Mandybur is the editor of Mashable Australia. Previously, she worked as a digital editor at SBS, Oyster Mag, MTV and ASOS. Tweet her at @jerico_m.
