Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital hosted a special traveling art exhibit called the 100 Cleft Portraits Tour. The exhibit features children born with cleft lip and/or palate, a rare condition occurring in about 1 in 700 births worldwide.
The portrait gallery, created by artist Katie Manning in honor of her daughter, is making 12 stops around the country at various pediatric craniofacial centers. The Houston stop attracted dozens of families and patients on their own journeys with cleft lip and palate, many of whom had not met other children like them before.
“We now feel part of a community that we didn’t know existed,” said Yolani Munoz, mother of 2-month-old Gael. “Seeing other smiles and faces like Gael’s really touched our hearts.”
The exhibit enabled families, clinicians, and community members to celebrate the unique and resilient smiles of cleft patients from around the world. Most importantly, the portraits allowed cleft patients of all ages to see themselves in the artwork, and to recognize how beautiful their facial differences truly are. The tour is presented by the American Cleft Palate Craniofacial Association (ACPA).
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