FORENSICS - ANATOMY OF TIME
This exhibition explores the history, science and art of forensic medicine. It travels from crime scene to courtroom, across centuries and continents, exploring the specialisms of those involved in the process of collecting, analysing and presenting medical evidence. It investigates violent crimes, and our enduring cultural fascination with death and detection. This is why I chose to go to this exhibition as it allowed me to investigate and gather knowledge on attitudes towards death across centuries and cultures, was well as from a different perspective. I went with my older sister; partly because I wanted to see her reaction to the information and sometimes gory images of the dead, alongside the reactions to the other people in the room, as well as my own reaction. It was fascinating to see such a wide range of techniques demonstrated in this exhibit including film, installation, art, photography as well as a museum layout of different instruments used with the dead; both on the scene and in the mortuary, and seeing how they've advanced through the centuries. To my surprise many people had a look of great concentration and fascination to the information they were reading, not finding it morbid at all.
However when it came to the photography and artwork of the deceased people, including my sister, almost seemed to wince at the sight of a dead body in such detail before their eyes. Even though this is something that will happen to each and every one of them. So it became clear to me that whilst reading facts and figures about death, they were fine about it, but when it came down to the reality of death in front of them - they almost rejected it as an unpleasant sight that they shouldn't have to look at and move quickly past it. Thats why I feel to get the message of death across to my viewer, even if subconsciously, I will use a subtle message of a white rose decaying to indicate the passing of time, without upsetting anyone in the process.
This exhibition explores the history, science and art of forensic medicine. It travels from crime scene to courtroom, across centuries and continents, exploring the specialisms of those involved in the process of collecting, analysing and presenting medical evidence. It investigates violent crimes, and our enduring cultural fascination with death and detection. This is why I chose to go to this exhibition as it allowed me to investigate and gather knowledge on attitudes towards death across centuries and cultures, was well as from a different perspective. I went with my older sister; partly because I wanted to see her reaction to the information and sometimes gory images of the dead, alongside the reactions to the other people in the room, as well as my own reaction. It was fascinating to see such a wide range of techniques demonstrated in this exhibit including film, installation, art, photography as well as a museum layout of different instruments used with the dead; both on the scene and in the mortuary, and seeing how they've advanced through the centuries. To my surprise many people had a look of great concentration and fascination to the information they were reading, not finding it morbid at all.
However when it came to the photography and artwork of the deceased people, including my sister, almost seemed to wince at the sight of a dead body in such detail before their eyes. Even though this is something that will happen to each and every one of them. So it became clear to me that whilst reading facts and figures about death, they were fine about it, but when it came down to the reality of death in front of them - they almost rejected it as an unpleasant sight that they shouldn't have to look at and move quickly past it. Thats why I feel to get the message of death across to my viewer, even if subconsciously, I will use a subtle message of a white rose decaying to indicate the passing of time, without upsetting anyone in the process.