BURDEN OF PROOF: THE CONSTRUCTION OF VISUAL EVIDENCE 2 OCTOBER 2015 - 10 JANUARY 2016 21 July 2014 Burden of Proof: The Construction of Visual Evidence examines the way photographic images have been harnessed as evidence in instances of crimes or acts of violence suffered by individuals or groups. The use of photography as factual evidence in the courtroom became an essential tool in the service of justice from the late 1800s. Over the following century however, the reliability of photographic ‘facts’ were ardently debated, sometimes legitimately contested and often contradicted. The exhibition presents eleven case studies spanning the period from the invention of ‘metric’ photography of crime scenes in the 19th century to the reconstruction of a drone attack in Pakistan in 2012 using digital and satellite technologies. These offer an analysis of the historical and geopolitical contexts in which the images appeared, as well as their purpose, production process and dissemination. Metric Photography of Crime Scenes looks at Alphonse Bertillon's 19th century creation of scientific measurements and recording methods of crime scenes in a way that would assist police investigations, judges and juries. In Traces, Marks, Prints: Revealing Details Invisible to the Naked Eye Rodolphe Archibald Reiss follows-up from Bertillon by developing photographic close-ups as a tool in solving crimes through detailed forensic visual analysis. The Man of the Shroud traces the controversial photographic history and analysis of the Shroud of Turin, a centuries old venerated cloth that bears the image of a crucified man. War Seen From Above reveals a before/after visual protocol during WWI, juxtaposing identical aerial views of the same location taken on different dates to document the results of bombings and assist in military strategies. The Great Terror in the USSR consists of portraits taken by the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs of citizens sentenced to death during Stalin’s Great Purge of the late 1930s. The Nuremberg Trials focuses on the historical legal precedence set by the central role played by the Allied film Nazi Concentration and Prison Camps in the trial of twenty-one major Nazi war criminals. Mengele’s Skull follows Richard Helmer’s process of superimposing photographs of Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele to an unidentified skull in order to conclude that the body was in fact his. Using images and drawings The Destruction of Koreme, Iraqi Kurdistan describes the forensic archaeological and anthropological investigations used to identify mass graves and victims of the Anfal campaign in Iraq. The Gaza Book of Destruction presents a photographic inventory of buildings destroyed by the Israeli attacks of 2009 in order to account for the necessary reconstruction works and their costs. A Drone Strike in Miranshah analyses satellite images and video footage in Pakistan from 2012 to establish the circumstances around one of the many drone strikes in the region. Bedouin Land Claims in the Negev Desert examines RAF photographs taken in 1945, prior to the formation of the state of Israel, in order to substantiate claims that Bedouin settlements already existed in the area.

Contd. Page 2 of 2

The exhibition has been co-produced by LE BAL, in Paris, The Photographers’ Gallery, in London and the Nederlands Fotomuseum, in Rotterdam. Exhibition conceived by Diane Dufour with Luce Lebart, Christian Delage and Eyal Weizman and contributions from Jennifer L. Mnookin, Anthony Petiteau, Tomasz Kizny, Thomas Keenan and Eric Stover. The exhibition is accompanied by a book published by Xavier Barral Editions and LE BAL with introductions by Diane Dufour, Eyal Weizman and Jennifer Mnookin. Notes for Editors The Photographers’ Gallery The Photographers’ Gallery opened in 1971 in Great Newport Street, London, as the UK’s first independent gallery devoted to photography. It was the first public gallery in the UK to exhibit many key names in international photography, including Juergen Teller, Robert Capa, Sebastião Salgado and Andreas Gursky. The Gallery has also been instrumental in establishing contemporary British photographers, including Martin Parr and Corinne Day. In 2009, the Gallery moved to 16 - 18 Ramillies Street in Soho, the first stage in its plan to create a 21st century home for photography. Following an eighteen month long redevelopment project, it reopened to the public in 2012. The success of The Photographers’ Gallery over the past four decades has helped to establish photography as a recognised art form, introducing new audiences to photography and championing its place at the heart of visual culture. www.thephotographersgallery.org.uk LE BAL Historically a famed ballroom in the Roaring Twenties near Place de Clichy in Paris, LE BAL was launched as a venue for exhibitions of contemporary images (photography, cinema and video) in September 2010. Headed by Diane Dufour, former Magnum Photos European Director, it emerged at a critical time as artists increasingly question the conditions in which images are produced, circulated and assimilated. Are we still able to understand ‘what’s going on’ beyond appearances? Can we still ‘read’ the world simply from its surface? LE BAL’s mission is to relay these questions and show works that deliberately put the documentary mode to the test. Artists presented at LE BAL have included: Walid Raad, Jeff Wall, Paul Graham, Haroun Farocki, Chauncey Hare, John Smith, Mark Cohen, Standish Lawder, Sharon Lockhart, Antoine d’Agata, Lewis Baltz, Watabe Yukichi, Paul Graham, Dirk Braeckman, Mark Lewis and Sophie Calle. President and founder of LE BAL, Raymond Depardon said: “[LE BAL is] a space for exhibitions, debate and examination of the multiple possible approaches to reality; a place that resonates with history-in-the-making.”

Visitor Information Opening times: Mon - Sat, 10:00 - 18:00, Thu, 10:00 - 20:00, Sun 11:00 - 18:00 Admission: free until noon (Mon - Sun) and then £3 / £2.5 concessions Address: 16-18 Ramillies Street, London W1F 7LW Nearest London Underground Station: Oxford Circus T: + 44 (0)20 7087 9300 E: [email protected] W: thephotographersgallery.org.uk Press information For further press information and to request images please contact: Inbal Mizrahi on +44 (0)20 7087 9333 or email [email protected]

BURDEN OF PROOF: THE CONSTRUCTION OF VISUAL EVIDENCE 2 OCTOBER 2015 - 10 JANUARY 2016

Image 1 Rodolphe A. Reiss Demonstration of the Bertillon metric photography system © R. A. REIS Courtesy of Collection of the Institut de police scientifique de l’Université de Lausanne

Image 2 Richard Helmer Richard Helmer’s face/skull Mengele superimposition 1985 © Photo Richard Helmer Courtesy Maja Helmer, 1985

Image 3 Alphonse Bertillon Murder of Monsieur Canon, boulevard de Clichy, 9 December 1914 © Archives de la Préfecture de police de Paris. Courtesy of Préfecture de police de Paris, Service de l’Identité judiciaire.

Image 4 Marfa Ilinitchna Riazantseva, 1937 © Archives centrales FSB et Archives nationales de la Fédération de Russie GARF, Moscou, copies publiées à partir des archives de l’Association internationale Memorial, Moscou.

Image 5 Le Saint Suaire de Turin, negative image. Enlargements by Paul Vignon from photographs taken by Giuseppe Enrie (1931-1933) © Institut Catholique in Paris

Image 7 Photography extract from Decoding video testimony, Miranshah, Pakistan, March 30, 2012 © Forensic Architecture in collaboration with SITU Research

Image 6 Grace A-South, Koreme, North of Iraq, June 1992 © Susan Meiselas, Magnum Photos

Contd. Page 3 of 3

For high-res press images and more information contact the Press Office. Call Inbal Mizrahi on +44 (0)20 7087 9333 or email [email protected] Press Image Terms of Loan The attached image(s) are accepted by you under the following terms and conditions: – That the images are only reproduced to illustrate an article or feature reviewing or reporting on the exhibition (section 30(i) and (ii) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988). – Permission to use these images after the exhibition dates is not valid and all digital image files loaned to you must be completely deleted from all database(s) and digital storage media when you have completed the project specific to the agreed article. – That the reproductions are accompanied by the name of the artist, the title and date of work, the owner credit line and photo credit. – That the reproductions are not cropped, digitally distorted, overprinted, tinted or subject to any form of derogatory treatment, without the prior approval of the copyright owner. – That any reproductions that accompany an article are not used for marketing or advertising purposes. Front & Rear Covers The use of images for front and/or rear covers may attract a fee and will require the prior authorisation of the owner of the work. Please contact The Photographers’ Gallery Press Office for such use. Call +44 (0)20 7087 9333 or send an email to [email protected] Please also contact The Photographers’ Gallery Press Office if you have any queries about the orientation of the images. NB. This information is to guarantee compliance with the terms of loan and will not be used for any other reason by the Gallery and will not be passed to third parties. By downloading the images below you agree to the conditions above.