ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Facing Out, a two-year creative health project funded by Arts Council England with The National Lottery, delivered in collaboration with co-curators who were also portraiture subjects and who had experience of facial cancer. The sitters with altered appearances spoke of being acutely aware of the gaze of others, in the street or at their work. This piece explores the relationship between the traditionally aesthetic practice of portraiture, and an aesthetic approach to care in working with people whose faces have undergone acute, physical changes. It asks how portraiture can be done in a way that cares for its sitters, whilst also challenging visual, conformist expectations of beauty. Becoming the subject of a portrait under these circumstances is a compelling act of defiance, and the act welcomes people to look at one’s face, scars and all. The writing addresses the cultural invisibility of people with facial disfigurement in the canon of art history, while describing how the subjects defiantly return the gaze, challenging us towards acceptance of diversity of appearance, and encouraging viewers to consider their appearance-related stereotypes.
