One of my favorite is the well known High Fashion Crime Scenes from LA based photographer Melanie Pullen. I saw her photos years ago and I fell in love with her project, her debut collection where she connected violence and style, crime scenes and high fashion in a fascinating yet slightly disturbing way.
Oscar's Grass
Miyake
Dorothy
Using LAPD and County Coroner's office old crime scene photos as sources, Pullen meticulously recreate the set of murders and bloody events, using models as victims and styling them with haute couture pieces, from Prada and Miu Miu, to de la Renta and Chanel. There is so much behind this...the idea crime and fashion fascination are today not dissimilar, the representation of dead bodies like mannequins, the glamourization of violence in our ages. In her bio you can read "she literally redress what are deeply disturbing events" and I think this is a perfect definition.
Phones
Nina
With WeeGee as one of her inspirations, Pullen mix artistic experience and a professional eye, building her sets with the help of stylists, make up artists, light crew, etc. This way, the set itself looks like a "behind the scenes" of a high fashion show, with up to 60 persons involved.
The Metro Series, the Barrel Series, the Hanging Series, the Taxi Cabs pictures, are totally mesmerizing. At the beginning the set distracts from the real scene and only after a while the viewer understands he's actually looking at a representation of a (well dressed) dead girl.
Ferris Wheel
The Weitzman File
Station
11 commenti:
sheezz! they are a tad creepy but super cool aswell! I am slihtly scared of the hanging girl! looks like a good coffee book though!
Thanks for introducing me to her! I'm completely intrigued by her work.
Very good photographs
I don't think glamorizing violence against women is a good idea. The problem is bad enough as it is without making it look...desirable and fashionable. I just can't imagine a victim of violence would find these pictures beautiful.
@ fia: I don't think Pullen's purpose is to glamorize violence, she simply shows what the contemporary era is became about crime. When you look at Oscar's Grass, for example, you first think how nice is the yellow dress and how cool is the picture. Then when you see the blood and think you're looking at a representation of a "dead body" you feel guilty. It's shocking. Regarding violence, I think there is more criticism than exaltation behind Melanie Pullen's work.
But this is only my opinion and thank you so much for sharing yours :-)
Wow! Really powerful photos!
Thank you so, so much for this post. I saw some of her photographs before and I couldn't remember her name!
Wow, they are so eery and beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
I have to say I agree with Fia on this one...
i love this idea!! To die for fashion! It is done in a way that isn't too gruesome and shows the clothing beautifully
I remember seeing some of her photographs before and they've never left me. There is something really disturbing about them. There is one of her's I think, where the girl is stuffed into a box in the corner of the picture, and it takes you ages to notice it. I think it's a really interesting thing, commentary, whatever, on women in art. It also really freaks me out.
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