Luis Gibson .. From a victim of a serial killer to a global legend

One moment may change the course of a human life completely, and it leads him to either refraction or to rediscover himself. Many collapse in front of the weight of pain, but a rare few succeeds in converting the wound into a rescue tool.
This is exactly what the American Luis Gibson did, who transformed her survivors from a brutal attack in her youth into a march that made her “the most successful legitimate artist in the world”, after her drawings helped the police to arrest hundreds of criminals.

Quiet childhood and early shocks

Gibson was born in the American state of Texas in the early 1950s, and from a young age showed a clear talent in drawing. After obtaining a certificate in fine arts from the University of Texas in Austin, her dreams were tending to dance and act in Hollywood, where she worked as a short period as a model and a beginner actress.

But her life turned upside down at the age of 21, when she was attacked by a serial killer who broke into her apartment in Los Angeles. The experiment later described it as “a torture rape”, as the aggressor was strangling it to lose its awareness and then restore the ball as soon as it woke up, to live frequent moments of horror and imminent death.

The police then did not reach a fear of social stigma, but the experience left itself an irreversible decision: to devote her life to confront criminals and help the victims through her art.

After returning to Texas, she began to draw the faces of tourists in public places. Gradually, she developed a superior skill in capturing features accurately and quickly. Hence, her idea was born: Why not use her talent to help justice?

She applied to work as a legitimate drawing to the Houston police, but she repeatedly faced rejection, until she officially accepted in 1989 after seven years of insistence. What distinguished her was not only her artistic skill, but her exceptional ability to communicate with the victims. By virtue of her experience, she was aware that the shock eradicated the details of the memory, so she adopted lengthy sessions to listen to the victims, during which she evokes the criminal expressions and looks, before gradually left the features with the help of a huge archive of pictures of eyes, noses and mouth.

Global success and standard numbers

Since the first drawing led to a killer arrest in the 1980s, its successes have rolled. It helped more than 1,300 victims to identify their attackers, and contributed to the arrest of dangerous criminals of killers, rapists and thieves.

This unprecedented success made the Guinness Book record its name as the most successful legitimate painter in the world with a success rate of 30%, which is a very high rate compared to the global rate.

It also published reference books such as “Evangers of Evil” and “Art of Sharia Drawing and its Basics”, which have become an accredited reference to train the global legal artists, in addition to producing documentaries inspired by her career.

Art as a psychotherapy

Gibson confirms that her work was not just a profession, but rather a personal treatment that helped her face the wounds of the past. She says: “Every criminal face I was drawing was an additional step to overcome the memories of the attack that almost changed my life for the worst.”

She adds that the most beautiful of this is that she gave the victims in turn an opportunity to recover, after they felt that her drawings helped them achieve justice and break the circle of fear.