Viktoria Modesta is a Latvian-born British singer-songwriter, performance artist, and model.
Early life
Modesta was born in Daugavpils in 1988 where she learned singing aged six at a local music school. Moskaļova moved with her family from Latvia to the United Kingdom when she was 12 years old. Due to a doctor's negligence at her birth, Moskalova spent most of her childhood in and out of hospitals. This accident led to a lasting problem with her left leg. In 2007, she had a voluntary below-the-knee leg amputation to improve her mobility and safeguard her future health. Her physicality has become known for challenging the modern perception of altered beauty.
Career
Modeling
Moskalova began modeling at the age of fifteen. She has appeared on subculture magazine covers such as Bizarre and Skin Two. On 10 January 2015, Modesta signed with IMG Models worldwide.
Music
Moskalova attended a performance art school from the age of 6 in Daugavpils, Latvia studying piano, vocal performance and sheet music. In 2009, she launched her first musical writing collaborative project with musician/producer Nik Hodges. Their first written track "Jane Bond" was featured in Music Week Playlist. In May 2010, Moskalova was selected as one of the six best unsigned artists in the UK by Evo Music Rooms presented by Edith Bowman. The show was broadcast on Channel 4. On 19 March 2010 Moskalova released her first EP titled EP1. On 28 May 2012 Moskalova put out a digital, independent release of her debut single "Only You". which was featured by iD, Wonderland and Notion magazines. On 12 December 2014, she launched a collaboration with Channel 4 for the campaign Born Risky, branding her as the world's first "Bionic Pop Artist" supported by the track "Prototype" released on Spotify for streaming. The video for the campaign was directed by Saam Farahmand. The video has received global attention, with over 12 million views on YouTube as of 2019 and over 16 million on Channel 4's Facebook page. The story was publicised worldwide throughout news networks publications such as i-D Magazine, Upworthy, Forbes and Elle Magazine USA. The video for "Prototype" received a Silver Lion Award at the Cannes Film Festival. In June 2019 Moskalova is to star as "the Bionic Showgirl" in cabaret at the Crazy Horse in Paris.. She is a European Young Leader alumni.
In 2017, Moskalova appeared in the second episode of the third season of the SyFy Network's "Killjoys" as a "Hackmod" named Niko, featuring several of her iconic prosthetic legs. The soundtrack for the episode featured multiple occurrences of Moskalova's "Prototype" single.
