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Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime

Past
  • Free
  • Exhibition
Photograph of the exhibition, Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime at Wellcome Collection.
Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime exhibition, Thomas SG Farnetti. Source: Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).

This exhibition examined the history, science and art of forensics – travelling from crime scene to courtroom, across centuries and continents, exploring the specialisms of those involved in collecting, analysing and presenting medical evidence.

‘Forensics’ contained original evidence, archival material, photographic documentation, film footage, forensic instruments and specimens, and was rich with artworks offering unsettling and intimate responses to traumatic events. Challenging familiar views of forensic medicine shaped by fictions that came out of the sensational reporting of late Victorian murder cases and popular crime dramas, the exhibition highlighted the complex entwining of law and medicine.