Clers Bows is the SFX artist ‘nerding out’ on orthotics and prosthetics

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“Nerdy in a sexy way,” is how 21-year-old SFX artist Clers Bow describes her beauty aesthetic. It’s a practice she has been building for the past year or so, creating forms where lasers zap from SFX-skin bikinis, skin vests sprout chest hair and prosthetic hands wrap around bodies. This elevation of the human form comes from a fascination with pushing bodies past their expected limits, a curiosity she’s been exploring since discovering the medium of prosthetics and orthotics.

Born and based in Barcelona, with stints in Berlin and London, Bow took a short prosthetics course in London last year, where she met SFX artist Satinder Chumber, who taught her much of the technical groundwork she builds from. “There’s so much I want to communicate, even if not everything is fully formed yet,” she says. Already, her world is shaped by a kind of cybernetic reimagining. “I’d define beauty as the value found in hybridity, entanglement and becoming-with – where humans [a concept popularised by Donna Haraway], technologies, bodies, genders and non-human agents intersect.”

Beyond the aesthetic, her work is also about functional form. “I’m fascinated by how bodies, through attached pieces, can create new capacities,” she explains. Previous projects entangle the human body with lights and advancements like glowing fleshy heels and simulated-skin buttons covering nipples. SFX led Bow to discover the world of prosthetics and orthotics, a whole new terrain she is currently studying and “nerding out about.” Below we talk to the artist about her novel practice, her current obsessions, and her beauty icons.

What is it you do and why do you do it?

Clers Bow:  I work with prosthetics focused on embodied communication. It started a year ago as a very natural personal project called Lighted, where I began mixing prosthetics with light. That led to my current obsession with body extensions. I’m fascinated by how bodies, through attached pieces, can create new capacities. Right now, I’m developing new pieces that mix both SFX and medical-aid crafts.

What are you trying to communicate through your work?

Clers Bow: There’s so much I want to communicate, even if not everything is fully formed yet. I’m interested in exploring body extensions and creating new spaces for intersectional identities. I want to merge SFX with the technology behind prosthetics and orthotics, and communicate the beauty of new forms, new ways of being, and new ways of identifying.

What’s been your career highlight so far?

Clers Bow: I haven’t been on this creative path for very long, and I’m eager for more, but working with people I’ve admired and followed for years feels almost unreal. One of the craziest experiences was traveling to Beijing alongside Jumbo Tsui (@jumbotusi), an incredible photographer I deeply admire.

Which fictional character do you most relate to?

Clers Bow: I’d say Caprice (Léa Seydoux), created for Crimes of the Future. She embodies Cronenberg’s exploration of the body as a site of transformation and communication, and she represents what I aspire to achieve creatively.

Who is your beauty icon?

Clers Bow: My beauty icon is Cindy Sherman, for the way she exposes beauty and gender as artificial transformations.

What does beauty mean to you?

Clers Bow: Resisting traditional ideals, I’d define beauty as the value found in hybridity, entanglement, and becoming-with – where humans, technologies, bodies, genders, and non-human agents intersect.

What is your current obsession?

Clers Bow: I’m currently obsessed with learning about lighting and sensor systems to incorporate into upcoming projects. I guess I’m fully embracing my inner nerd.

What is the future of beauty?

Clers Bow: I believe the future of beauty lies in new materials, hybrid products, and unrestrained visions. There’s something necessary in discomfort – in allowing things to stop being beautiful, even when they once were.

You’ve opted to be cryogenically frozen in hopes of continuing the human race. When you’re awoken it’ll be your responsibility to kick-start the breeding. What SFX would you wear on your first date?

Clers Bow: I’d wear my lighted bikini and a needle mask, combining clinical erotism with visible technology and introducing confusion and ambiguity in case the world remains binary.

You encounter a hostile alien race and sound is their only mechanism for communication. What song would you play to them to inspire them to spare you and the rest of the human race?

Clers Bow:  Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of Sega Bodega.