Before Pistorius there was Aimee Mullins challenging opinion...and Cremaster!

Aimee Mullins competed in the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics running in 'blades' not unlike those sported this week by Olympian and Paralympian  Oscar Pistorius of South Africa.

Born without fibulae in her legs, model Mullins spoke of "the opportunity of adversity" and challenged ideas about beauty, identity & assumptions that are made by society about perceived disability.

She has spoken of "the prosthetic limb standing as a symbol that the wearer has the power to create whatever they want to create in that space" and that they become "architects of their own identities".

from Superhuman brochure, Wellcome Collection

Powerful and thought provoking messaging. All the more so as she took on a number of roles in artist Matthew Barney's extraordinary looking film 'Cremaster 3', each new identity requiring a diffetent set of prosthetic legs including her Paralympic blades and others made from transparent resin.

Stills and more of this and other remarkable stories are available free to view in the Wellcome Collection at the 'Superhuman' exhibition exploring human enhancement from 600BCE all the way to projections for 2050.

Appropriate viewing while Oscar runs on his blades in front of 80,000 souls at the Olympic Stadium whilst there rages in the background a debate on enhancement from his engineering advancements as well as pharmaceutical support, or the 'Mondo' fast track surface at the stadium: should we stop or support progress?