Videos

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  Strangers in the Mirror

  What’s it like to face a faceless world? Acclaimed neurologist Oliver Sacks once apologized for almost bumping into a large bearded man, only to realize he was speaking to a...

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  The Story of the Living, Breathing Mirror

  Living with the perceptual disorder known as prosopagnosia—the inability to recognize even the faces of people you know—can be difficult. But it can also be awkwardly funny,...

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  Painting Blind

  Chuck Close on how the curious neurological disorder known as face-blindness affects his artistic process of creating enormous, painstakingly detailed faces. Referencing scenes...

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  Chuck, Up Close

  Chuck Close, the great American painter, describes his unique process of making impossibly massive and hyper-realistic portraits and how he uses his body as a tool. Close suffers...

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  Coping with Face Blindness

  The ability to recognize faces is an important social adaptation. Those who are face blind—what is known as prosopagnosia—can easily be assumed as rude or inconsiderate or...

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  Remeeting People

  Every time the portraitist Chuck Close sees a person, he must “remeet” him or her. Even after hearing someone’s name he does not remember anything about the person. When working...

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  Can I Catch Face Blindness?

  Is prosopagnosia, commonly called face blindness, a communicable disease? Can you get it from a genetic mutation or just from environmental considerations? Is it a consequence of...

Blog Posts

• Listen to "Strangers in the Mirror" on RadioLab!

  The fine folks at NPR's RadioLab have produced a new episode based on Strangers in the Mirror, which features Oliver Sacks and Chuck Close (and was moderated by RadioLab's own Robert Krulwich). Have a listen over at their site. Or add to your cue wherever podcasts are sold for...