Vienna – human expressiveness is not limited to a smiling or angry face. The whole body is included in how a person expresses him- or herself. Making faces is vey much like dancing. However we automatically read in the faces of other people. Feelings are shared. A smile can be contagious.

I am working together with facially paralyzed persons who are treated in plastic and reconstructive surgery. After surgery the patients need to do exercises in front of a mirror on a daily basis. They get a list with schematic drawings of a human face and explanations of particular movements they shall do every day.

Some time ago I went with this catalogue of exercises to the Westbahnhof (train station) in Vienna. There are photo cabins and in one of them I made pictures of myself during I made faces from the list. The results are 21 little black and white portrait photographs of myself.

Photograph: Christina Lammer, 2012