Splatter

Laura Larson American
1999
Not on view
For her series My Dark Places, Larson photographed miniature models of crime scenes made in the 1940s by Frances Glessner Lee, a pioneer of forensic investigation. Lee used the models, which she dubbed "Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death," to train future detectives, coroners, and medical examiners in proper investigative techniques. The perspective of Larson’s cinematic photograph recasts the miniature model on the scale of real life, inviting the viewer to construct a narrative from a series of details. The overturned chair, the telephone, and the telltale blood splatter are clues that, through close examination, tell the story of a murder.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Splatter
  • Artist: Laura Larson (American, born 1965)
  • Date: 1999
  • Medium: Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions: Image: 5 in. × 3 1/2 in. (12.7 × 8.9 cm)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Vital Projects Fund Inc. Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2015
  • Object Number: 2015.58
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

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