What's in a face?

The U.S. News Story (linked above) is entitled: “Black faces are indelible image of Katrina.” We, unfortunately sort people into groups, classes, or categories. Our brains tend to lump people by type, risking the pitfalls of stereotyping. This is what leads societies to arrange themselves in heirarchical and eventually terribly discriminatory ways.

The faces we saw on television - in front of the Convention Center following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans - have stayed in our collective memory. We ask, where are they now? Does Mom have a place to stay? Is Baby ok?
As human beings we have always been fascinated with faces. The baby in the picture gazed at the mom's face as soon as focused vision was present, and face memory kicked in. Several specific areas of the brain are involved when it comes to face memory. And different locations are specific to encoding the face we want to remember, vs. recognizing that face when we see it again. As children mature, still different brain regions enable them to put a name with a face.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the faces of children separated from parents or caregivers haunt us. Some are nameless. Dedicated volunteers and staff work tirelessly to match family members and arrange reunions. And often all that is needed for the match is the image of a face. When all that is available is a silhouette, our minds strain to fill in the details. We instinctively want to know what people look like.
Since early in the history of Christianity, believers have wondered what Christ looked like. Artists had differing visions, as you can see on this site, Christ in Culture: faces of Jesus. As the religion spread, different cultures put different faces on Jesus. It is the magnificent work of talented artists that is remembered. And who in the Western world does not have the face of The Mona Lisa etched in memory?
In the mid 1980's another wonderful female face fascinated readers of the National Geographic. Their "most famous face” belonged to a woman from Afghanistan: “The face of war is visible in the haunted eyes of this young girl who fled her homeland to seek shelter in a refugee camp in Pakistan” from “Along Afghanistan’s War-torn frontier,” in the June 1985 issue of National Geographic Magazine. This honored magazine has been very instrumental in introducing us to people and cultures from all around the world.
The fabric of humanity benefits when so-called "foreigners' " faces become more familiar and memorable, less "foreign." For instance, this more contemporary view is worth a peek at this wonderful photo blog featuring faces from Iraq. William N. Trumble features faces of Chinese people on his site.
We also like to get to know faces by vocational or regional category. Click on the label under “Photo Gallery” image for a display of great author photos. Mathemetician faces also get noticed at this interesting British site. Richard Avedon’s photos of the American West are currently on display at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.
Explore the web world with your own "faces" search. You will be fascinated.