Daril Atkins the Sculptor
When I stopped practicing Anaplastology in 2023, I returned to my roots. I studied the art and craft of sculpture at uni. That involved a lot of drawing and sketching, clay modeling, plaster piece molds and casts, marble and wood carving, and bronze casting. I loved every minute of that time and lived it twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Nothing bothered me. Neither the lack of money, a place to sleep, or depending on other students to offer me meals. I was like a bird, free to fly with my head in the clouds and feet on the ground. The creative freedom was intoxicating. I loved creating and working with my hands. All that until reality slapped me the day I graduated. I had to leave that dreamland and find a source of income.
Call it destiny, call it fate, call it good luck, or as I prefer, call it a blessing from my creator. A well-known public hospital in Mumbai was about to collaborate with an institution in the USA. Part of that project was to develop the use of the new material called silicone polymer, to create life-like facial prostheses for the disfigured persons. And to do this they would need a sculptor. I lost no time in presenting myself as a likely candidate. Thus in 1969, I began my job as a medical sculptor. I was fascinated and felt like a child in a room full of toys. My old habit took over and saw me spending more time than required in the lab. After all, it was my job to innovate, develop, and invent methods to create hyper-realistic prostheses that fit exactly over defects. The word Anaplastology had not been coined at that time.
Fifty-four years later I returned to my roots. I am a sculptor, to begin with, and have always been a sculptor. Except that the purposes differed. I could create art for art's sake. But Anaplastology gave me a strong purpose. And at the end of that story, I hope that I made a difference to the advancement of that profession and to the patients who came to me. The baton has been passed on and from now onwards I am dedicated to the art and craft of sculpture. As you can see in the image above, I am using waste cardboard to create sculpture. Another medium to develop to create art. (call it what you like)