Bright, Brittain. 2012. The Transforming Aesthetic of the Crime Scene Photograph: Evidence, News, Fashion, and Art. Concentric Literary and Cultural Studies, 38(1), pp. 79-102. [Article]

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Abstract or Description

The crime scene photograph, which came into being as part of an official evidence-gathering process, evolved through the tabloid news industry in the mid-century United States into a form of entertainment. From sensational news, the imagery, which had become ingrained in the public imagination, was co-opted by fashion and art to stage photographs that stylistically evoked the crime scene’s visual rhetoric. The crime scene aesthetic is now part of the vocabulary of many major fashion photographers, and a number of contemporary artists use both fashion and crime to question popular
perception of these images. The various adaptations of the crime scene photograph have altered the aesthetic consideration of the original, so that archival examples from police departments and newspapers are being treated
as art in galleries and glossy monographs. These re-imaginings and re-uses raise questions about the impact of staged imagery on the perception of authentic imagery.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	photography, crime scene, evidence, fashion photography, murder, news, art photography
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	English and Comparative Literature
Dates:	Date Event March 2012 Published
Item ID:	12958
Date Deposited:	26 Aug 2015 11:09
Last Modified:	06 Jun 2016 14:17
Peer Reviewed:	Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/12958

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