Inside one classroom in New York City, art and science combine to put a face on the past.
A one-of-a-kind art class pairing students with human skulls from actual cold cases is being offered at the New York Academy of Art in Tribeca. The class, which started in 2015, has helped solve sold cases across the country.
“There’s a family or families out there in need of those answers that are quite literally frozen in uncertainty. And that’s what we are striving to do here is answer those questions," said Joe Mullins, adjunct professor at the school.
The artists in Mullins's forensic art class are not motivated by a final grade but by the hope of bringing some comfort to those searching for their loved ones.
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“It’s definitely a unique twist on art. I think all art serves to help, this serves to help them in a very unique way. It helps to bring peace to people who might not have it otherwise," said student Debra Calderon.
Melanie Berardicelli has been working with a Brooklyn homicide victim shot multiple times in 1991.
“She’s got family that’s missing her and to be able to bring closure to her family. That would mean the world to me," Berardicelli said.
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The ultimate goal for each and every one of these artists is that their facial reclamation brings answers.
“Essentially, it’s like doing a portrait but a portrait from the inside out. And the skull is dictating those facial details, the muscles, the tissue depth," Mullins.
