A Willendorf Woman With A Twist

I made this figure for a fabulous friend of mine, Gillian Castle, who has taken on the epic challenge of doing a Solo Channel Swim through her charity Chameleon Buddies. This challenge is more complicated as Gillian has a stoma due to a past injury and is using her swim to raise awareness about birth trauma injuries and living with a stoma.  

I should point out that this challenge is just one of a string of challenges Gillian has taken on since her life changed dramatically after a traumatic birth that left her needing a stoma for the rest of her life. She is determined to show others all the things you can do when you have a stoma after she was handed a list of all the things she shouldn't do, many of which she has proved you can do. 

She hates people saying it, but she is inspirational and not because she is superhuman; she is inspiring because she is very human. Her social media pages often highlight the chaotic nature of her life and make it clear that perfection is not the goal; happiness is the goal, which can look very different for different people, and that is okay.  

​To celebrate Gillian's achievements so far, and those to come, I adapted one of our Willendorf Women figures (based on a find from 28,000 years ago)by adding a stoma to represent Gillian better. I wanted to use the figure of the Willendorf Woman as she has come to represent body positivity for many people today, and I wanted to highlight the work Gillian has done to help those with stomas love their bodies. This is a big deal because many people find the subject of stomas an uncomfortable topic, something to keep hidden. But the reality is that thousands of people are alive because some clever person invented a very clever little bag.  

I am pretty sure that if we had the opportunity to talk to someone from 28,000 years ago suffering from a traumatic injury like Gillian's and explained that we had a bag that could save their life, they would think it was a blood miracle. I think it is a bloody miracle! 

If you want a Willendorf Woman with slight adaptations to represent you better, sign up for our commission list to see if we can help. We will donate to Gillian's charity for every figure we adapt in this way. You can learn more about her charity here.

If you would like one of our unaltered but equally gorgeous ladies, you can get them here.