Photographer Sage Sohier captures a unique kind of portrait that will tug at your heart. For her series, “About Face”, the artist spent three years documenting people with various stages of facial paralysis due to many causes including Bell’s palsy, tumors, strokes, accidents, and congenital nerve damage. Sohier generally photographed the subjects against a neutral background around the beginning of treatment and then followed the patients’ progress over time. Her intentions with the project were to tell the patients’ stories by creating a captivating portrait that is both visually appealing and psychologically powerful. The artist believes that, when viewing someone with a partial facial paralysis, we are in effect looking at two expressions on the same face. She explains, “Like gazing at a cubist painting, we observe multiple facets of someone in a single instant.” Although their afflictions cause changes in their physical appearance, the brave subjects were still willing to expose themselves to the camera. “Most people I photograph are acutely aware of their imperfections and try to minimize them,” says Sohier. “Some have confided in me that, in their attempt to look more normal, they strive for impassivity and repress their smiles. They worry that this effort is altering who they are emotionally and affecting how other people respond to them.” ( By Katie Hosmer from Mymodernmet.com ) For more information, follow also the link below.
