Headspace helps to put a happy face on the children who look different

Art meets science in Liverpool as a top craniofacial surgeon enlists the help of the public to find a 'normal' head shapeChristian Duncan is a man with a thousand faces. And he needs every one of them to assist him in his delicate, invariably life-changing work.As a surgeon with the responsibility of redrawing the disfigured faces and reshaping the misshapen heads of children, he needs all the guidance he can muster. So in 2011 he came up with the idea of enlisting the public to help him in his work in the craniofacial unit at Alder Hey in Liverpool, one of Europe's biggest children's hospitals.Two years on, the result is Headspace, a fascinating and unique interactive installation, put together by three women graduates of Liverpool School of Art and Design, that is running at Fact (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) in the city centre. Headspace is where science meets art.Duncan's aim is to find the archetypal, aesthetically "normal" human head shape, the ideal to aspire to when he is wielding his scalpel. To do this he needed a database of at least 1,000 heads.Last week the 1,000th volunteer entered photographer Paula Murray's specially built booth to have her head captured from five angles with a £55,000 state-of-the-art 3D camera made in Atlanta, Georgia. Afterwards participants can view the extraordinary 360-degree pictures on the Headspace website. It can be disconcerting to see yourself as others see you; at least it was for number 826 (your correspondent).Ev...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Liverpool John Moores University Children Art News UK news Hospitals NHS The Observer Science Society Source Type: news