Forensic Science Blog

PHOTOGRAPHING DEATH

Science, art or voyeurism?

The Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland, opened an uncommon exhibition: “The Scene of the Crime”. More than a 100 pictures, taken by Rodolphe Archibald Reiss, are presented in this exhibit and can be seen until October 25th. Click here for more information about the pictures at The Musée de l’Elysée.

Reiss was a professor of forensic science at the University of Lausanne. He became the head of photography at the same university in 1899. There is, of course, controversy surrounding the exhibition. The Museum suggests that sensitive people and children under 14 should not visit the exhibition. Are these images offensive?

There are several ways to portrait death, and there are several reasons to do so. Death is a taboo subject in contemporary society, but at the same time brutal, violent death appeals to morbid curiosity of people. There are different ways to deal with death and cultures put in place different restrictions and practices associated with rituals. Death can be celebrated, embraced or feared.

As forensic scientists who regularly use photographs to document crime scenes, autopsy findings and bone trauma to name a few, we are shocked at the use of post-mortem photographs for entertainment. Photography, like many other disciplines, has a link to Forensic Science world. The use of the photography in criminology receives the name of Forensic Photography. Alphonse Bertillon was one of the first to systematically photograph and document crime scenes, but “Weegee”, whose real name was Arthur Fellig, was probably the most famous.

The practice of photographing death as any other social event like weddings, baptisms and birthdays was very popular. Photographing the recently deceased is also known as Memorial Photography or Postmortem Photography and was a common practice in the nineteenth century.In some South American countries the practice continued even until the 1950’s! Even though photographing death as a social memento has ceased, there is a small number of contemporary photographers whose work often deal with death and corpses like Andres Serrano, Enrique Metinides, Joel-Peter Witkin, Maeve Berry, and Walters Schels.

Should scientific uses of photography be made accessible to the public? Have your say in our blog about this exhibition and the use of photography to capture death outside the science realm.