Dutch gallery exhibits crime scene photos as art

Amsterdam, Jan 20: ''Rape - January 1, 1982'', reads the caption beneath a photograph of a pair of blood-splattered white stilettos abandoned on a dark Amsterdam street.

''Discovery of body - 1971'', reads another accompanying a photo of a dead woman found collapsed beneath her dining table, leaving only her swollen legs and shabby slippers exposed.

The images, from the archives of Amsterdam police, depict real crime scenes and are on display at a Dutch photography gallery.

Taken between 1965 and 1986, the photos document scenes of suicides, murders, violent struggles, or the last moments of those who died suddenly alone. But they also capture the social history of the city, dingy interiors, the sad lives of its junkies, prostitutes and loners.

''During the period we chose, Amsterdam police commissioned real photographers to take forensic pictures,'' said curator Colette Olof.

''That is why the quality was so good ... Everything was so beautiful that we thought this is really worthwhile showing in the museum.'' The photos are shown without any additional details from their case files, so the horror of the New Year's Day rape which lies behind the discarded stilettos, or the murder of a girl whose body was dumped in a meadow, is only hinted at.

The gallery says the exhibition is unprecedented in showing forensic photographs where the victims' bodies are still in place.

In one picture, a woman's legs are seen through long grass and an old fashioned Dutch bicycle lies on its side. She could almost be sleeping.

Former police photographers whose work is exhibited have played down their images' artistic qualities, but they recall the importance of capturing the scene before them which might contain vital clues.

''The moment you looked through the camera lens, you didn't see the victim or a human being, but an object which has to be documented in the best possible way,'' said former police photographer Henk Zaaiman.

The show has drawn big crowds and some visitors have praised the images' expressive power while others have condemned the ethics of displaying the photos.

''This is disgraceful. Surely there are other ways of attracting attention,'' reads one comment in the visitors' book.

REUTERS