ONE SELF PORTRAIT EVERY DAY in 2020 : 75

Ides of March

This is a photo of my hand.

Every hand is different but most people would have difficulty recognising a person by seeing someone’s hand unless they have something very distinct like a scar or a ring. We might see someone’s hand and think it looks like someone’s hand but not be certain.

We all have different faces and most people can recognise a person by seeing someone’s face. It’s a special ability most humans have.

I have a condition called Prosopagnosia. I don’t have this special ability that most humans have in recognising people by their face. I do often recognise people but my brain has to work hard and consider context, mannerism, type of face, type of body, hair style, voice etc. I do get there eventually, most of the time.

I do try and make eye contact with everybody and if I see that someone recognises me, I try and work out who they are.

Interestingly, chuck Close has prosopagnosia.

One more thing: a few years ago I was interviewed by a journalist. When she sent me the text she was proposing to sell to news outlets, I told her that there were many things that were incorrect (for example, the article claimed that I did not recognise my family when I woke up in the morning which is not true) and she said she would correct it. The next thing I knew, my story, The sad man who can’t recognise his wife and children was all over the internet.

On UK sites:

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/01/20/prosopagnosia-face-blindness-recognise-own-family_n_6501638.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANHAmRSYZWIGg2gtf88YapGu0S8NZPlURef4F-mUmjBWlpS-WOiRKUns5OFO-dtn56vtwEk-k2peMHz173Xal6wm_xj6o_1UeMsTP6ECh6GNfZRdidelFLltd8fVzeT0yUdABP5x54yKtaSL7fiEWX56FSz1XKxFiRVjtjhFfUFg

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/life/552828/Rare-condition-struggle-recognise-wife-children-prosopagnosia

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2916512/The-man-t-recognise-wife-children-s-face-blind-Painter-46-identify-family-voices.html

And around the world:

https://sumsel.tribunnews.com/2015/01/20/meski-pengelihatannya-normal-devlin-tak-bisa-mengenali-wajah-anak-istrinya

http://www.ecns.cn/learning-Chinese/2015/01-23/152073.shtml

 

The photographer sent to take photographs of me and my family had just photographed Britain’s oldest horse and his next assignment was to photograph a woman in Bristol who was addicted to ketchup.

15.3.2020.

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