Burden of Proof: The Construction of Visual Evidence is an upcoming exhibition hosted by The Photographers' Gallery (16 - 18 Ramillies St, London W1F 7LW). Examining the way photographic images have been harnessed as evidence in instances of crimes or acts of violence, the exhibition presents eleven case studies spanning the period from the invention of ‘metric’ photography of crime scenes in the 19th century to the reconstruction of a drone attack in Pakistan in 2012 using digital and satellite technologies. These offer an analysis of the historical and geopolitical contexts in which the images appeared, as well as their purpose, production process and dissemination. On display from 2 October 2015 - 10 January 2016, the exhibition is accompanied by a book published by Xavier Barral Editions and LE BAL with introductions by Diane Dufour, Eyal Weizman and Jennifer Mnookin.

TPG Press Release

Burden of Proof: The Construction of Visual Evidence

2 October 2015 - 10 January 2016

Burden of Proof: The Construction of Visual Evidence examines the way photographic images have been harnessed as evidence in instances of crimes or acts of violence suffered by individuals or groups.
 
The use of photography as factual evidence in the courtroom became an essential tool in the service of justice from the late 1800s. Over the following century however, the reliability of photographic ‘facts’ were ardently debated, sometimes legitimately contested and often contradicted.
 
The exhibition presents eleven case studies spanning the period from the invention of ‘metric’ photography of crime scenes in the 19th century to the reconstruction of a drone attack in Pakistan in 2012 using digital and satellite technologies. These offer an analysis of the historical and geopolitical contexts in which the images appeared, as well as their purpose, production process and dissemination.
 
Metric Photography of Crime Scenes looks at Alphonse Bertillon's 19th century creation of scientific measurements and recording methods of crime scenes in a way that would assist police investigations, judges and juries. In Traces, Marks, Prints: Revealing Details Invisible to the Naked Eye Rodolphe Archibald Reiss follows-up from Bertillon by developing photographic close-ups as a tool in solving crimes through detailed forensic visual analysis. The Man of the Shroud traces the controversial photographic history and analysis of the Shroud of Turin, a centuries old venerated cloth that bears the image of a crucified man.
 
War Seen From Above reveals a before/after visual protocol during WWI, juxtaposing identical aerial views of the same location taken on different dates to document the results of bombings and assist in military strategies. The Great Terror in the USSR consists of portraits taken by the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs of citizens sentenced to death during Stalin’s Great Purge of the late 1930s.  The Nuremberg Trials focuses on the historical legal precedence set by the central role played by the Allied film Nazi Concentration and Prison Camps in the trial of twenty-one major Nazi war criminals. Mengele’s Skull follows Richard Helmer’s process of superimposing photographs of Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele to an unidentified skull in order to conclude that the body was in fact his.
 
Using images and drawings The Destruction of Koreme, Iraqi Kurdistan describes the forensic archaeological and anthropological investigations used to identify mass graves and victims of the Anfal campaign in Iraq. The Gaza Book of Destruction presents a photographic inventory of buildings destroyed by the Israeli attacks of 2009 in order to account for the necessary reconstruction works and their costs. A Drone Strike in Miranshah analyses satellite images and video footage in Pakistan from 2012 to establish the circumstances around one of the many drone strikes in the region. Bedouin Land Claims in the Negev Desert examines RAF photographs taken in 1945, prior to the formation of the state of Israel, in order to substantiate claims that Bedouin settlements already existed in the area.
The exhibition has been co-produced by LE BAL, in Paris, The Photographers’ Gallery, in London and the Nederlands Fotomuseum, in Rotterdam.
 
Exhibition conceived by Diane Dufour with Luce Lebart, Christian Delage and Eyal Weizman and contributions from Jennifer L. Mnookin, Anthony Petiteau, Tomasz Kizny, Thomas Keenan and Eric Stover.
 
The exhibition is accompanied by a book published by Xavier Barral Editions and LE BAL with introductions by Diane Dufour, Eyal Weizman and Jennifer Mnookin.

Photo: Rodolphe A. Reiss, Demonstration of the Bertillon metric photography system © R. A. REIS Courtesy of Collection of the Institut de police scientifique de l’Université de Lausanne

Your Comments