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The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death
‘”The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death” is an exploration of a collection of eighteen miniature crime scene models that were built in the 1940’s and 50’s by a progressive criminologist Frances Glessner Lee (1878 – 1962). The models, which were based on actual homicides, suicides, and accidental deaths, were created to train detectives to assess visual evidence. This seven-year project culminated in an exhibition and a book, Corinne May Botz’s The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death (The Monacelli Press, 2004).
‘The models display an astounding level of precision and detail: shades can be raised and lowered, mice live in the walls, stereoscopes work, whistles blow and pencils write. My photographs highlight the models’ painstaking detail, as well as the prominence of female victims. Through framing, scale, lighting, color, and depth of field, I attempt to bring intimacy and emotion to the scene of the crime. I want viewers to feel as if they inhabit the miniatures – to loose their sense of proportion and experience the large in the small. Glessner Lee built the dioramas, she said, “to convict the guilty, clear the innocent, and find the truth in a nutshell.”
GLESSNER LEE WITH HER NUTSHELL DIORAMA DARK BATHROOM.
‘Most of the dead in Frances Glessner Lee’s models are women killed in their own homes. (Seventeen of the nineteen dioramas are set in homes, and eleven depict dead women.) Women fallen down stairs. Women with rope burns on their necks. Women murdered in the act of packing to leave, dresser drawers and suitcases splayed open to reveal miniature clothes.
‘Frances Glessner Lee began designing and building the dioramas when she was sixty-five and worked on the project for ten years. Her life (1878–1962) spanned two world wars, women finally getting the right to vote, and the beginnings of second-wave feminism.
‘Much is made of her lack of education. Glessner Lee’s brother had been sent to Harvard, but she did not attend college. This did not stop her from inventing an entirely new teaching tool for police investigation. In 1942, Glessner Lee was named a captain in the New Hampshire State Police force, with no formal forensic training. In a letter quoted in Corinne May Botz’s book, Glessner Lee explains her interest in constructing the dioramas and her fascination with the field of legal medicine. “When an opportunity came to me to start something new in the medical line. I was delighted to take it on. As a girl, I was deeply interested in medicine and nursing and would have enjoyed taking training in either one.” She was a mother and a grandmother—in fact, in much of the writing about her dioramas, her status as a grandmother is insisted upon, as if grandmothers should not have anything to do with murder and violence, should not invent and build models of crime scenes.’ — Nicole Cooley
Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death
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Murder Objects
‘The objects in these photographs were instrumental in cases of sudden and violent deaths. They pertain to solved-crimes, and are displayed in a glass cabinet at the Baltimore Forensic Medical Center. This series reflects my interest in how artifacts are displayed and viewed in particular cultural contexts and conditions. The mundane household objects reveal the transgressive possibilities of the domestic interior. During this time I was researching psychometry, in which psychics hold objects and receive psychic vibrations contained in the objects. I believed these objects would help to sharpen my psychometric abilities.’ — CMB
Nipple used as pacifier causing asphyxiation death of infant.
Electrocution. Note: Voltage Exit Burns
Elderly man who had daily medication prepared for him, cause of death related to pills left in container at time of death.
Lantern fueled by gasoline used by victim to heat automobile, which he was sleeping in. Victim died from carbon monoxide exposure generated by lantern. Note: Aluminum foil around heater globe and vent to restrict “light glow” of lantern.
Exhaust pipe cut by victim in an effort to camouflage a carbon monoxide suicide in a vehicle to have authorities rule as accidental.
Car Accident
Drug Paraphernalia
Pagan Motorcycle Club ID made from Tattoo on decomposed body.
A twenty-three year old woman was stabbed thirty three times with a pair of scissors in a drug related homicide. She was also bitten on the left side of her face during the attack. Bite mark impression castes were obtained from a suspect. He latter pled guilt to first-degree murder and received a life sentence.
Drug Paraphernalia
Drug Paraphernalia
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Haunted Houses
Haunted Houses is a long-term project in which I photographed and collected oral ghosts stories in over eighty haunted sites throughout the United States. The series was inspired by turn of the century spirit photographs and Victorian ghost stories written by women as a means of articulating domestic discontents. In being the medium through which the spirit of these houses was recorded, I continued the tradition of female sensitivity to the supernatural. When I photographed in haunted houses, I tried to open myself to the invisible nuances of a space. I photographed using a large format camera, with exposures often ranging from a few seconds to a few hours. Though the medium of the visible, photography makes the invisible apparent. By collecting extensive evidence of the surface, one becomes aware of what is missing, and a space is provided for the viewer to imagine the invisible.
Haunted Houses provides a unique way of understanding our relationship to the spaces we inhabit, and reflects romantic and dystopian notions of the domestic realm. The notion of hauntedness activates and highlights the home, revealing the hidden narratives and possibilities of everyday life. — CMB
Atlas Theatre, Cheyenne, Wyoming
Army Barracks, Vancouver, Washington
Séance Table
Old Bermuda Inn, Staten Island, New York
Private Residence, Clinton, Maine
The Roehrs House, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey
Private Residence, Hawthorne, New Jersey
Apartment No.2, Brooklyn, New York
La Petite Theatre, New Orleans, Louisiana
Vealtown Tavern, Bernardsville, New Jersey
El Rancho, Las Vegas, Nevada
Edgar Allen Poe House, Baltimore, MD
Rental House, Tivoli, NY
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Mein Hauptbahnhof
The love of objects is called “objectophilia.” Objectophiles do not feel attracted to people and instead are sexually and emotionally drawn to certain objects. They exchange experiences on the Internet and hope that their sexual inclinations will be recognized and accepted.
The photographs in the series Objectophilia were made during my visits with objectophiles. They show various love objects including: a pinball machine, computer, World Trade Center, Berlin Hauptbahnhof, and steam locomotive. All of these objects were photographed with a large format camera and in a documentary style to serve as a counterpoint to the highly subjective and emotional video. — CMB
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p.s. Hey. ** Dominik, Hi!!! Um, I don’t remember. I spent several days searching for them when I was bored or had nothing more pressing to do. That’s funny: I just saw a current pic of Jared Leto yesterday and thought the same thing. Keanu Reeves and Johnny Depp looked young and ageless until they hit their 50s, and then, in what seemed like a flash, they looked weathered. Love live-streaming himself picking his nose and eating his boogers, G. ** David, Cool, I’ve been vegetarian since I was 15. Never a second thought, even back in the days when that meant eating in restaurants involved eating a lot of iceberg lettuce and potatoes. Not narcissistic, no, I don’t think so. Other than some organic socks supposedly in the mail to me from a LA friend, I got no Xmas presents. Hope the meal didn’t give you indigestion, and, yeah, I like you too. ** Misanthrope, I need to eat Chinese food. It’s not that common a cuisine in Paris, strangely. Can’t imagine you having a Xmas or birthday without some form of gift-wrapped Chalamet. Crazy shirt. Cooper as in the tire company maybe? Wear it proudly, buddy. A bonfire sounds nice. We were sure they going to impose a NYE curfew here, but they didn’t, they just cancelled the big fireworks thing. ** _Black_Acrylic, My pleasure, Ben. Oh, I just restored another one of your old guest-posts, coming up in the next week and a half. I’ll let you be surprised. ** Tosh Berman, I still need watch the last episode of ‘Get Back’. Everyone seems to think or know that Lennon was doing heroin during the shooting, so that might explain things a bit. He kind of perked up a little in episode 2. Maybe he did a speedball that day. ** Kage, Hi. My guess is that I really did. Blush, I mea n. The slaves post is finished, and it will be here on the 31st like clockwork, yes. I think it’s kind of a dark one. Darker than even usual, I mean. But I’m usually making least two of those kinds of posts at the same time, i.e. an escorts one and a slave one, so they blur together in my mind. Do you do NYE celebrations? If so, what? ** Steve Erickson, And there it is! Everyone, Join me in debuting Mr. Erickson’s new song “o m i n o u s d r o n e 7”. I’m glad you like Beckman’s stuff, of course. My memory of ‘Speed Racer’ is that it looked great but its script was rote and obvious. But I haven’t seen it since its release. ** h now j, Hi. Oh, great that you’re fans Beckman’s. Thank you, thank you for whatever you’re sending! That’s so thoughtful. Congrats on the new room and park proximity. I live two blocks from the Tuileries, so I know how helpful that is. ** Bill, Happy you dug it. My holiday weekend was no more of a holiday than any other weekend, which makes it sound like a bad thing, which it wasn’t. Yes, your shit weather is news even over here. Not exciting shit? I’ll imbibe your friend’s release, thank you very much! Happy homebound life until further notice. ** Okay. I thought today’s post would be a good one to restore, and of course I hope you’ll agree. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
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Hi Dennis great post. I don’t know why your blog seem me traslated.
Dennis, I love dioramas. I think that’s probably one reason I had so many playsets back in the day. Batman, Star Wars, etc. And I loved making them for school projects.
Yeah, my bedroom is looking like a 70s teenage girl’s but with Timothee Chalamet and Harry Styles stuff instead of Leif Garrett and David Cassidy stuff. Kayla’s sister got me a Harry Styles calendar too. I forgot about that one. Eek.
A friend of mine suggested that the Cooper t-shirt may be a Twin Peaks thing originally. I’m like, well, Dennis is a Lynch and Twin Peaks fan, so there’s another layer. 😀
I’m telling you, one of the most devastating things I’ve ever experienced is seeing a KFC in Paris. Really brought me down, hahaha. And the line running out of it. Oof. If you got KFC, you better have some damn Chinese food.
I haven’t been to a fireworks thing or even an NYE party in ages. Usually end up falling asleep and missing all the ball-dropping bullshit. I’m always ready for the new year and pretty much hate all those year-in-review shows and segments. I just turn them off. I’m like, I just lived through all that shit…onward and upward!
Btw, just started reading Justin Isis’ I Wonder What Human Flesh Tastes Like. Seems Chomu Press is going out of business, so I picked up that and his Welcome to the Arms Race before they go out of print. I told him I was about to read it and he goes, be generous, I was 24 when I wrote it. I’m not gonna tell him yet, but it’s really fucking good so far. One of those ones where you’re reading it and find yourself a little jealous that you didn’t write it yourself. I’ll keep him hanging for a while before I tell him what I think of it. We’re always taking the piss out of each other, so it’ll be fun. 😀
Haunted
Nice….
Hi!!
The details of these dioramas are exquisite. Those tiny letters, the tears in the various fabrics… I’d love to jump through time and space and visit the exhibition. Thank you for this!
Either way, it’s an impressive collection. The stocking stuffers.
Right? Jared Leto’s not willing to age. Yes! I remember Keanu Reeves going on like that for a long time too! And Frank Iero, though he’s far from 50, so we’ll see, haha.
Do you know Daniel Allen Cox’s work? I read his first novel “Shuck” today, and it was so, so up my alley on every possible level. I really loved it. (He mentions your books in a scene too, which made me smile.)
Ah, what a lovely and attractive love! I’m sure he’s got a huge and rapt audience! Thank you, haha! Love feeling like the doll (? Let’s hope it’s a doll.) the little girl in the third from the last picture throws onto the tracks, Od.
I once did a graffiti piece…I wrote on the wall at the graffiti tunnel… ‘thinking about fucking nothing’ it was a ref to contemplating…. fucking something dead… dead is nothing right?… although sort of something… in a way…
When I was 22 someone thought I was asleep.. out for the count and started screwing me… I was asleep initially then I awoke to find him thrusting at me…i was enjoying it so I pretended to still be asleep …but as soon as he realised I was awake… he lost his bona… and pulled out of me…. I honestly didn’t care that he was taking advantage… he on the other hand was mortified… ironic…. date rape gone wrong perhaps?? For him and for me!!
X
CMB and FGL both represent new names for me, very much unjustly, so they are most deserving of their restoration. Looking forward to my own guest-post comeback too, yay!
Today is Boxing Day Bank Holiday and yesterday was Xmas Bank Holiday, so it seems here in the UK we’ve had 3 full days to watch football and eat chocolates. No wonder we’re a nation of fat people. Still, I’m not getting Covid like this anyway.
I think I remember this post. Those crime scene miniatures are gorgeous. I can’t imagine considering the Berlin Hauptbahnhof to be a love object though.
We continue to be colder than Paris today. Yikes. The rain is on pause for the moment, maybe a quick run to the bookstore.
Did you get a chance to check out The Feast? Curious what you think.
Bill
Hi Dennis, I usually mix up the escort/ slaves posts, too… recently, I showed a few of these posts of yours to a friend, and he said, “well, the distinction is very clear, the escorts do it for money, and the slaves for free…” [duh?] so, the slaves do the slaving for free? That’s kind of tempting… no? Who wouldn’t want a few free slaves?… For NYE I’m usually in Tehr or L, in either case I celebrate by partying hard aka consuming lots of vodka and Md with friends and dancing with strangers. Obviously, last year this wasn’t possible, and this year is the same thanks to you-know-what… and I also won’t be in a party capital for once [I’ll be in Glasg with J] so just going to a nice restaurant with a few of our friends. Hbu? Do you have any NYE rituals? Or any lovely plans for this year? Oh, this year, I’ll just slide through your dark, dark slave post on the 31ts of Dec into the new year, smoothly and lightly like a healthy newborn… 🙂
If you think KFC in Paris is bad, see if Chick-fil-A moves in!
Gay City News published my review of THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS: https://gaycitynews.com/familiar-themes-and-new-twists-in-the-matrix-resurrections/ and film top 10 list: https://gaycitynews.com/top-films-of-2021/