PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Archer, The Skateboarder, The Guitar Player are all real-life, whole-body plastinates featured in Body Worlds: Vital, an exhibit returning to the Franklin Institute and opening on Saturday.
Plastination is a process to preserve bodies and body parts. Dr. Angela Whalley, director of The Institute of Plastination and the curator of Body Worlds, said the major takeaway from the exhibit for visitors is often seeing what they’re made of.
“It is so powerful that they typically say, ‘Never again will I take my body for granted,’” said Whalley.
There are body parts like lungs, including one showing a black lung and one from a smoker alongside a white lung from a non-smoker.
There is also a display of man’s best friend, showing the internal structures of a dog.
The bodies in the exhibit come from the 20,000 donors registered in Body World’s files.
Whalley said the exhibit is dedicated to those donors.
“We owe them our upmost respect and gratitude because without their trust in our work and without their generosity Body Worlds would never exist,” she said.
Body Worlds: Vital opens to the public on Saturday, Feb. 15 and runs through Sept. 1, 2025.