Kelli Crockett Art

Effacing Portraits

Effacing Portraits: Prosopagnosia as a Mode of Painting was the title of my Honors Thesis Research Project while studying at UNC Charlotte. The following is an excerpt of the research Abstract:

“For my honors thesis, I translated my experience of developmental prosopagnosia, also known as “face blindness,” into a series of four oil portraits. Prosopagnosia is a face-processing disorder that affects a person’s ability to identify, recognize, and judge faces, facial features, and expressions. This disorder is rare, so misinformation, misunderstanding, and stigma are common. I pursued this inquiry by researching prosopagnosia and the experiences of others with it, exploring my own experience through introspective exercises, and observing the work of other artists surrounding the topic. Throughout this process, my depiction of the visual memory I experience continuously evolved, varying drastically in style, composition, and representation as I discovered more about myself as a case study for the disorder. The final product of my research depicts prosopagnosia through warped abstractions and color distortion of the figure to capture my visualization of the people in my life.”

  • Portraits of Memory Exhibition Poster
  • Me just before the reception for Portraits of Memory!
  • Working int he final stages of one of the pieces, comparing it to my digital painting reference
  • One of the first initial layers marking out the faces
  • An example of the base backgorunds I created for each person

This series was featured in the co-curated exhibition Portraits of Memory in September 2023. This is the show statement for Portraits of Memory:

“In the tapestry of our lives, memories hold a special place – fragments of experiences that shape who we are and how we perceive the world. Yet, as the currents of time flow ceaselessly forward, memories evolve, embellished by emotion and dulled by the passage of years. The artists featured in this exhibition unravel this delicate dance between recollection and reality. Through their work, they question the accuracy of our remembrances, showing how time’s touch can warp the contours of the past, reshaping our perceptions and morphing our portraits. The spectrum of abstraction and representation found in this figurative art displays the breadth and understanding of memory, how some moments are in stark clarity versus those lost to time.”