Arne Svenson - Unspeaking Likeness - 2016

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Unspeaking Likeness is a series of photographs of forensic facial reconstruction sculptures. These sculptures are commissioned by various law enforcement agencies and used for the purposes of establishing the identity of victims of suspected violent crime whose soft tissue facial features have been obliterated by either trauma or the passage of time. Svenson traveled around the USA and Mexico photographing these objects, treating them as live beings of whom he was taking a portrait. His point of focus was the eyes; he left the rest of the face to fall out of focus so as to better speak to the anonymity of the victim and the malleability of their existence.