Our dear friend Celina Leroy is back! Following her hugely successful Vascular Birthmark Portrait Show last year, we are delighted to invite you to a special pop-up show featuring some of Celina’s latest portraits.
Celina is a Brooklyn-based artist and New York City art teacher. Her portraits showcase the beauty of individuals with facial differences, including those caused by port-wine stain (PWS) birthmarks and other venous malformations.
For this series I created portraits of people with facial differences and birthmarks. I started this project because I was born with a Port Wine Stain Birthmark. This kind of birthmark is caused by enlarged blood vessels creating a reddish purplish mark on the skin. Depending on the size and location it can have various physical and psychological effects. I myself have one, on my lip and chin. As a child I experienced bullying and it caused me to feel insecure and alienated by my peers. I didn’t know anyone who looked like me. As a society we are taught to look at any type of unsymmetrical feature as a sign of ugliness, disease or an evil marker. If it’s small like mine, you learn how to hide it and live in disguise. But if it was around my brain it could have caused seizures, or if it was around my eyes it could have caused glaucoma and blindness, which is the reality for some of the people I paint.
I made this project to spread awareness and help reduce the stigma for my friends with facial differences. I hope to in a small way change the narrative on what is beautiful, or at least educate folks on different conditions. What if we think of facial differences as artworks on the body, maps of red and white on the skin? I’ve been flooded with requests from people and families around the world to paint their portraits. If I’m lucky I get to meet them in real life, take their photo and make their painting. Though I am focusing on my lived experience, it speaks to us all because we all have differences but ultimately are just flesh on bone and want to feel seen, loved, and accepted.
Follow Celina on Instagram: @portwinestainpaintings
This event will be in collaboration with the Birthmark Society Apparel Company:
“We want to reduce the stigma associated with having a vascular birthmark. Normalize and show that birthmarks are dope. Our goal is to enhance community connection through our own representation and hopefully one day globally bring us together. And as we grow we look forward to creating in person community events via the brand and organizations such as The Sturge Weber Foundation. Nevus Outreach organization. And The Vascular Birthmark Foundation (VBF).”
Image Description:
On a white background is a collage of colorful paintings of individuals with birthmarks and other facial differences. Above it is the following text: POSITIVE EXPOSURE PRESENTS WITH BIRTHMARK SOCIETY. DEFINING BEAUTY. PORTRAITS OF BIRTHMARKS & FACIAL DIFFERENCES. BY CELINA LEROY. Sunday October 6, 2024 from 1pm-4pm. 14 E 109th St, New York, NY 10029.