‘A sad thing it was, no doubt, very sad;
but we can’t mend it. Therefore let us make the
best of a bad matter; and as it is impossible
to hammer anything out of it for moral purposes,
let us treat it aesthetically, and see if it will
turn to account in that way.’
Thomas De Quincey,
On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts
A man lies under the harsh light of the morning sun, his restless dreams punctuated by flashes from a life spent searching for incriminating evidence. He was part of a CSI team in London, driving from one bloody scene to the next. While he drifts in and out of consciousness, the past and present merge, making him question his version of reality.
A not too distant tragedy flickers through his mind. On the 30th July 2002, best friends, William Kadama and Gameli Akuklu were found unconscious at the bottom of a Police College swimming pool. They both later died. Making this particularly tragic is the inherent trust placed by society in the institution.
The subsequent photographs oscillate between the Crime Academy, whose primary function is to teach crime-scene investigation and a public realm where crime is usually said to ‘happen’. In this search for meaning the only constant is shifting realities found in suburban scenes of bay-windowed houses and bedecked shopping malls.
Reflecting on the role of the forensic photographer and the dilution of memory caused by repeated viewings of the aftermath of tragic events, the pictures re-visit certain sites over a period of months searching for clues while also being attuned to processes of change, renewal and the function of the built environment as a ‘key’ to memory.
©djnorwood 2020
but we can’t mend it. Therefore let us make the
best of a bad matter; and as it is impossible
to hammer anything out of it for moral purposes,
let us treat it aesthetically, and see if it will
turn to account in that way.’
Thomas De Quincey,
On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts
A man lies under the harsh light of the morning sun, his restless dreams punctuated by flashes from a life spent searching for incriminating evidence. He was part of a CSI team in London, driving from one bloody scene to the next. While he drifts in and out of consciousness, the past and present merge, making him question his version of reality.
A not too distant tragedy flickers through his mind. On the 30th July 2002, best friends, William Kadama and Gameli Akuklu were found unconscious at the bottom of a Police College swimming pool. They both later died. Making this particularly tragic is the inherent trust placed by society in the institution.
The subsequent photographs oscillate between the Crime Academy, whose primary function is to teach crime-scene investigation and a public realm where crime is usually said to ‘happen’. In this search for meaning the only constant is shifting realities found in suburban scenes of bay-windowed houses and bedecked shopping malls.
Reflecting on the role of the forensic photographer and the dilution of memory caused by repeated viewings of the aftermath of tragic events, the pictures re-visit certain sites over a period of months searching for clues while also being attuned to processes of change, renewal and the function of the built environment as a ‘key’ to memory.
©djnorwood 2020