Defining Beauty: A Conversation with Celina Leroy

In this episode of myFace, myStory, host Dina Zuckerberg speaks with Celina Leroy, an artist, art teacher, and advocate born with a Port Wine Stain birthmark. Celina shares how her personal experiences have inspired her to create powerful portraits of individuals with craniofacial differences, such as birthmarks, cleft lip and palate, and Sturge-Weber syndrome. Through her artwork and accompanying video interviews, Celina seeks to raise awareness, end the stigma surrounding visible differences, and redefine society’s standards of beauty.

 

- [Announcer] Welcome to "myFace, myStory: "Voices from the Craniofacial Community" with your host, Dina Zuckerberg.

- Hello, and welcome to "myFace, myStory: "Voices from the Craniofacial Community." I'm Dina Zuckerberg, your host, and Director of Family Programs at myFace. Like many of you listening, I have a craniofacial difference. I was born with a cleft lip, a hearing loss, and no vision in my left eye. "MyFace, myStory" is about people like us being seen and heard, about sharing stories within the craniofacial community and with others. This podcast episode is made possible through support from the Integra Foundation committed to improving lives. By the way, whether you're watching on YouTube or listening through Apple Podcasts, click Subscribe Now and we'll keep you updated on future episodes so you never miss out. And if you're a fan of "myFace, myStory," please rate and review the program on Apple Podcasts so we can get a message of inclusivity and empowerment to more people. Today, I am joined by Celina Leroy. Celina is an artist, art teacher, and advocate. Born with a Port Wine Stain birthmark, Celina creates painted portraits of individuals born with craniofacial differences, including birthmarks, cleft lips and palates, Sturge-Weber syndrome, et cetera. She hopes that her work will shed light on this underrepresented group of people and end the stigma surrounding visible differences and disabilities. Along with each portrait, she gives a video interview of that person giving more context to their story and journey. Welcome, Celina. I really look forward to our conversation.

- I'm so excited to be here.

- Yeah. So can you share your personal journey growing up with a Port Wine Stain birthmark? And how did that experience shape who you are today?

- Yeah, I was born with a Port Wine Stain on my chin, lip, and cheek. When I was a baby, I had like so many laser treatments to kind of reduce the color of it and the size. Like throughout my life, probably had like 90 or so laser treatments.

- Wow.

- Yeah, and then I had two kind of major surgeries on my lip to like reduce the size, because it's kind of larger on one side. And like with Port Wine Stains, it's a progressive lesion, so it gets larger as you grow. As any kind of like adolescence age, it will grow more. So that's why I've had those surgeries. So when I grew up, I always felt like pretty ashamed of my birthmark and really felt like I was different because of that and it's something that I should hide. So I like immediately like started wearing makeup and just kind of trying to cover it and blend in with other people. And I was always in the back of my mind like afraid that someone would notice, someone would see it and like just think that I was ugly or think that something was wrong with me. And it was like kind of like sad. I always loved making art since I was a little kid. And I wanted to create portraits of people with birthmarks. After I started going on Facebook and finding like support groups for people with Port Wine Stains, and I was looking at all these people and I was like, "Oh my God, like actually Port Wine Stains "are so beautiful." "They're like this red color, "and they're all different and unique "and they're like maps of color on the face." And I was like, "I should make a portrait series about this." 'Cause so many people feel like