The Broken Back 2026

The Broken Back is a bronze sculpture based on my own spinal implant. Created from my CT scans, the implant was digitally reconstructed as a 3D model, enlarged, 3D-printed in wax and then cast in bronze. Mounted on a base of Bornholm granite, the sculpture brings a structure normally hidden inside my body into public space.

The sculpture stands on Dronning Louises Bro in Copenhagen, where, on 28 January 2012, I leaned against a railing above the viaduct. The railing gave way because it had rusted, and I fell 4.5 metres onto the cycle path below, breaking my back. I was 14 years old. The fall left me paraplegic, and I have used a wheelchair ever since. That same night, surgeons placed the metal implant in my spine to stabilise it. It remains inside my body today.

By placing an enlarged bronze replica of this implant close to the site of the accident, I return a part of my body's history to the place where it began. A structure that is usually invisible becomes a public monument to disability, care and the experience of living in a body held together by medical technology.

We should take care of our city, and our city should take care of us.

From body to scan
CT scans use X-rays taken from multiple angles to create detailed cross-sectional images of the body. Together, these images form a three-dimensional record of bones, tissue and the metal implant inside my body.

Isolating the metal
Working with my CT scans in medical imaging software, I digitally isolate the metal implant from the surrounding bones and tissue. This reveals its shape as a three-dimensional model, which is then enlarged, 3D-printed in wax and cast in bronze.